A Test of Insanity
by Starchii
Summary: AU DeiXIno ItaXSaku TenXHidan Complete Sakura, Tenten, and Ino were just walking back from a mission when suddenly two Akatsuki members appear and capture them. What is their motive and why did they kidnap all three of them?
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hello! Just a warning that this is a redo of **_**A Test of Insanity**_**. Since I can't bring myself to take down the original, I'm going to be replacing chapters one at a time, or in the case of this first one, three at a time. If enough people bug me about it, I'll post the old story as a separate story. There won't be much difference between this version and the old one, except for the quality of writing. Also, this story was written at a point in the manga when all characters involved were still alive and mostly evil. Some changes may reflect new manga developments. Maybe a more detailed plot. I don't know. We'll see. Thanks for reading this again for old readers, and welcome to new readers!**

**Important note: This chapter replaces the first three chapters of the original **_**A Test of Insanity. **_**The rest of the story is still in its original form and has not been edited yet. **

**Disclaimer: I do not and will not own Naruto…such is the sad story of my life.**

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_Prologue_

In the darkness of a cell, a pair of eyes shot open. The eyes—an interesting shade of cornflower blue—began searching the dank walls of their confinement, exploring all the angles and corners. The girl, for the eyes were inexplicably the right kind of shape for a girl, groaned in pain and shifted her long blonde hair away from the growing bump on the back of her head. Her entire body stilled as she took in the foul smell that pervaded her holding cell—a strange mixture between rotting garbage and urine. _What lovely accommodations_, she thought to herself sarcastically. The entirety of her head felt as though it was about to explode, but she had almost no chakra to heal herself. She guessed that she had been drained shortly before being locked in her current residence. Luckily, she was not being uncomfortably restrained, her captors correctly guessing that she was harmless without any chakra or weapons. Besides, if her memory was still functioning fully, she had been captured by the Akatsuki. No, not she, _they. _She had not been alone. And it was at that precise moment of recollection that Yamanaka Ino slumped against the wall behind her in annoyance.

The floors and walls were made of cement and were distinctly wet to the touch, a sure sign that her cell was somewhere below ground. Ino shivered slightly, her small purple tank top not doing much to protect her from the invading chill that spread throughout the subterranean prison. She had already noted the smell as being distinctly unpleasant, but she still had to fight the feeling of nausea as a new wave of the fetid odor wafted around her. However, no matter how dreadful the circumstances, Ino knew that it was unlikely that she would be able to escape. After all, not only her, but also Tenten and Sakura had been easily overpowered by just two of the Akatsuki, and Ino could feel at least two more chakra signatures drifting around somewhere above her head. No, she had more of a chance of convincing Shikamaru to quit being such a lazy ass than escaping from her current position.

Thinking about her friends, Ino wondered what had happened to Tenten and Sakura. She knew that the other two had been rendered unconscious in the battle against the two Akatsuki, but she had no idea what had happened to them after that. Did Akatsuki leave them in the middle of the forest? Did they kill them and leave their bodies to rot there? The thought made Ino shiver more than the cold. She didn't feel their chakra anywhere in the surrounding areas, but she had never been as good at sensing it as Sakura. Either they were just as drained as she was, in which case Ino would never have been able to sense them, or they weren't there. But why would they take _her_? Sakura would have made some perverse sense to kidnap. Both her value as a medic and her connection to Naruto would make her a prime target for Akatsuki, but Ino didn't have such infamous connections. Neither did Tenten for that matter. But Ino was unmistakably locked in a cell in the middle of the basement of some nefarious base somewhere with no hopes of escape at the mercy of Akatsuki. She was always very good at being melodramatic.

The mission that the three girls had been on had been a cakewalk. A simple 'destroy the target' kind of mission, with the target being just barely jounin level. While he had a distinct rank advantage over the three girls, they had the advantage of numbers and underestimation. After all, one of their numbers had pink hair. Not many girls with pink hair could punch a crater into the ground. Ino found that the three kunoichi worked rather well together with Tenten being best at long range, Ino at mid distance, and Sakura at close. That being said, they had kicked their target's ass around with some minor injuries on their part and, after Sakura healed their wounds, they headed home.

On the way back, they had been joking around about the look on the guy's face when he saw Sakura blast through a tree with just a punch. It had been just before the Fire border when they felt the enemy chakra. Sakura had frozen, Ino and Tenten not following long after. The feeling of the chakra still sent goosebumps down Ino's arms and legs. It had been massive and powerful, stifling in its intensity. The kunoichi fled to the trees, attempting to take cover and mask their own chakra in the hopes that the enemy presence wouldn't notice them. But before the fledgling desire could even completely form, an explosion had rocked the area that they were standing in, knocking down the trees they had been taking refuge in. The three of them moved quickly from the site of the detonation, stopping a few hundred feet away.

Tenten was the first to take action, launching a volley of shuriken and kunai at the enemy. Ino saw a blur of red and black and yellow dodge the weaponry before coming to a halt a few feet from her position. She unsteadily got into a fighting position, not completely assured in her own abilities against the much stronger opponent. She saw the Akatsuki smirk from underneath his kasa before taking a predatory step toward her. Sakura flew into action. The pink haired kunoichi threw a punch at her opponent, but he sidestepped it easily. He was making obvious movements to distance himself from Sakura, most likely marking him as a long or mid distance fighter. Sakura stuck to him, swinging her arms and kicking at him using her exemplary knowledge of taijutsu to outmaneuver him. Finally, the Akatsuki was forced to block rather than dodge, and he caught one of Sakura's punches with his forearms. Ino could hear the cracking of his bone from her spot one hundred feet away.

Ino heard another fight going on behind her, so she turned around and saw Tenten fighting another Akatsuki, this one with an orange swirled mask on. Tenten was being solidly beaten by her opponent. She didn't seem to be able to land a solid hit on him, his body going in and out of focus with Tenten's weapons merely flying through him. It was disconcerting. Ino took a step to help her brunette friend, seeing as Sakura wasn't doing too badly against the other Akatsuki. As she moved, though, Tenten was quickly incapacitated with a hard hit to the head. The masked man turned to Ino, then. The blonde kunoichi turned to see how Sakura was doing only to see that she was unconscious and slung over the shoulder of the other man. Before she could so much as say her friend's name, she felt a pressure on the back of her neck, hitting her solidly on the pressure point and knocking her out cold.

Ino was knocked from her memory of the events that led her to her current shithole by the sound of a door slamming shut and footsteps coming down what sounded like wooden stairs. The footsteps stopped a few feet down the hall, and she heard another door open. _Maybe one of my captors is finally checking up on me_, she thought with little excitement. At least while she was alone, she could pretend that she was just down in the Interrogations Department. At the thought, Ino slapped her palm down on the ground, annoyed that she couldn't even face her situation. She hadn't even _attempted _to defend herself when they had gotten ambushed. It _sucked_. She had let _Forehead Girl _of all people protect her, and she knew that her pink haired friend would never let her live it down. _If she's not dead_. But she couldn't let herself believe that. She _had _to have faith that the others were alive; even if that meant that they were stuck in this hell with her.

* * *

Sakura was propped up against one of the corners farthest away from the cell door. She couldn't see much from the tiny window set in it, but she knew that she didn't want to be anywhere near it if any of her captors decided to pay a visit. She was nearly drained of chakra, and from the other signatures she could feel down the hall, so were Tenten and Ino. She supposed she should be glad that they were all alive in any case.

Her legs and arms were cramped from sitting up against the wall and lying sprawled against the hard floor, not to mention the bruises that she had received during her fight with the Akatsuki. _At least the bastard got a broken arm_, she thought angrily. Sakura was downright pissed about her capture. It was bad enough that her and her friends had been ambushed for seemingly no reason, but now they locked her in a fucking cell and left her there to rot? Yeah, that didn't sit well with the kunoichi.

It was probably that anger that propelled her to move as soon as the door to her cell opened, but maybe it was just sheer bad luck that her captor took that moment to look in on her.

Sakura launched herself across the cell and swung her right arm wildly in a punch that, with her chakra, probably would have left a hole through the man's head. As it was, he caught her fist swiftly, and without her chakra, Sakura didn't even have the satisfaction of feeling all the bones in his hand breaking.

The man before her was not one that she had ever encountered before. He had light blond hair that shined silver in the low light streaming in from the hallway, and a pair of violet eyes that appeared almost red. His Akatsuki cloak was opened in the front, revealing much of his torso as well as a strange beaded necklace with a silver circular pendant at the end of it. The circle of the pendant had an upside down triangle inside it, maybe representing some obscure religion or belief system. Or perhaps he just liked it. His hair was carefully slicked back from his face, giving him the look of a mobster, and his face was set in a scowl as he exerted painful pressure on her fist.

Sakura grimaced, pulling back to try to free her hand from his grasp, but he wasn't being forthcoming. At her look of pain, he smirked.

"Too bad I can't fucking draw blood." His voice sent a shiver down her spine and made her seriously contemplate spitting in his face all in one moment. She settled for something a little less death defying.

"Go fuck yourself," she spat, still angry beyond belief and almost hoping to get a rise out of him. Maybe he would kill her, and the Akatsuki wouldn't be able to use her for whatever evil plot they had up their sleeve now. It was a morbid, if not productive, thought.

"Want to watch, princess?" he asked, his breath spilling across her face, sending a wave of his scent at her—cinnamon with a touch of polishing oil and blood. She bared her teeth at him in a fierce scowl.

"Only if you're planning on ripping it off," she bounced back, knowing that she was pushing her luck but not really caring. The man's smirk merely widened before he threw her arm back at her, making her stumble a little away from him. Sakura rubbed her wrist in irritation, her leather gloves chaffing the skin worse than his rough grip already had.

"Now there's a thought." The return was unexpected, and Sakura couldn't do much more than raise her eyebrow at him, wondering if he liked to mix opium with his juice in the morning. It wouldn't really surprise her.

"You're unbelievably fucked up," she said. Now, Sakura did not use the word _unbelievably _lightly. She had, after all, been exposed to Orochimaru and Uchiha Itachi. Therefore, she knew some people who were _unbelievably _fucked up, but this guy was sitting comfortably at number three on her list.

"You have a smart fucking mouth. Jashin would hate you as a sacrifice, pinkie. Too damn bad for you," he replied, sending her a look that clearly stated that he really thought it was unfortunate for her that she couldn't be sacrificed to his god. Good thing all of her friends had equally smart mouths, though Tenten was probably a little more reserved about trading witty repartee with evil criminals. Sakura knew Ino would probably be just as bitchy as usual.

"Oh damn, and here I was, looking forward to that." Her tone was entirely sarcastic, and the moment it left her mouth, she knew she had finally crossed the line. The man was towering over her, his chakra swirling around him malevolently.

"Shut your filthy mouth, you fucking bitch." The statement was hardly out of his mouth before he had backhanded her across the face. She fell unceremoniously down onto the cement floor, and she could taste blood in her mouth from where she had bit her cheek. "Itachi wanted you awake, so you're awake. Don't pass out like a fucking pansy."

And with those words of encouragement, he swept out of her cell, leaving her alone once more. Sakura propped herself up on her elbow and stared at the door for several minutes, contemplating her options. They didn't look good, especially if the Uchiha was somehow involved. Last time she had met him, she hadn't even been able to look at his face. She had been terrified to look up and get caught in one of his genjutsu. Sakura was proficient in genjutsu, but comparing her talent with it to Itachi's was like comparing a shark to a goldfish. She would probably kill herself before even noticing that she was trapped in one of his illusions.

So, Itachi's involvement completely ended any chance they had at escape. Not that those chances had been good to begin with, but Sakura liked to keep her options open. Whatever Itachi or their Leader had in store for the three kunoichi, they had no choice but to play along for now. Someone in Konoha would certainly notice their absence and look for them, though Sakura hoped that Tsunade-shishou would be able to contain Naruto. No matter what happened to her, the Akatsuki could not get their hands on her best friend. It would be disastrous.

With those thoughts in mind, Sakura once more propped herself in one of the corners farthest from the door, waiting to see if the elusive Uchiha would make an appearance.

* * *

Tenten wondered silently what the hell was going on in the cell next to her own. She heard raised voices, one of them obviously Sakura and the other a male. Sakura was making a fuss, from what Tenten could hear, and the man sounded like he was simply playing along with whatever the pink haired kunoichi threw at him. Maybe he had a sense of humor? Tenten highly doubted it, but she couldn't figure out why else a member of the Akatsuki would be _bantering lightheartedly _with one of her friends. Maybe she had accidentally slipped some opium into her juice the other morning? Bah, it didn't matter. It only mattered that…

The unmistakable sound of a slap reached her ears, and the world sharpened back into focus. Sakura must have finally pissed off the guy. Tenten wasn't really all that surprised. Sakura had a terrible temper, and if she was pissed than she would have been pushing her limits. Tenten heard Sakura's door slam shut and some footsteps thumping loudly toward her cell. Her door was hurriedly unlocked and in stepped the man.

Tenten supposed that he was kind of surprising to look at, but her dumbfounded look probably didn't earn her any points in his book. For his part, he merely looked annoyed with the entire situation. It was probably the eye color that prompted her to open her mouth.

"Who _are _you?" she asked, the question sounding stupid even to her own ears. She sounded more like she was asking him _what _he was rather than _whom _he was, and the whole situation was getting progressively more surreal as the seconds ticked by. After all, she knew he was a member of Akatsuki, and what else could possibly matter.

"What the hell does _that _matter?" His question voiced her thoughts, and she was glad that she was standing otherwise she would have had the urge to jump up and point at him accusingly. She didn't want to give the Akatsuki the impression that she was just as socially retarded as her teammates in any case, though she had often secretly imagined that Neji would have gotten along splendidly with Uchiha Itachi if Itachi wasn't a psychopath.

"It doesn't, really," she replied. Her voice was much stronger than her constitution at that moment. She could clearly see that he noticed it. The smirk on his face was entirely too mocking for its own good.

"The name's Hidan, if that's what you meant." By the way that he said it, Tenten could tell that he was mocking how she had phrased the initial question.

"Yeah, I think that's what I meant," she said in return. She couldn't help but keep talking even though she could tell that his opinion of her lowered as the time went on. He raised his eyebrow at her, giving her a look that clearly stated that he was expecting her to continue making a fool of herself.

"Look, I don't give a fuck anymore. Let's just go," he stated, quickly turning around and moving back toward the open door of her cell. By the way he moved and the remark he had made, he expected her to follow. Tenten continued to sit against the back wall, dumbfounded. Where would he want her to go with him? The idea of just simply _following _him seemed completely backwards. If he wanted something from her, he was going to have to prod her a little more than he already had. Contrary to his belief, she wasn't completely mentally handicapped.

Hidan finally seemed to notice that she wasn't behind him because he flipped back around just as fast as he has moved toward the door. He furrowed his eyebrows in irritation at her defiant posture before stomping to her and roughly grabbing her arm. Without giving her a chance to protest, he hauled her to her feet and dragged her out of the cell.

The most Tenten could do was glare heatedly at his back, but unless she expected his clothes to set on fire, it wasn't going to do much damage. Still keeping a firm grip on her arm, Hidan walked further down the hall to cell next to Tenten's and kicked the door. It made a loud clanging noise as the lock bounced in the jamb. Hidan muttered something like, "bitch kunoichi giving me hell." She heard a muted yell that sounded suspiciously like Ino before they were moving back toward the stairs at the other end of the hallway.

Tenten glanced longingly back at her old cell and the cells of her friends. She couldn't help but think that being locked up would be infinitely better than whatever awaited her at the top of the stairs.


	2. So Many Questions

**A/N: Well, I got great hits for the last chapter, as always. Also, the voting has officially ended…sad, I know. Here are the ending results:**

**InoXDeidara: 11**

**InoXZetsu: 4 (Sorry, Muu…)**

**SakuraXItachi: 6**

**SakuraXKakuzu: 5**

**So, guess what y'all! This is going to be an Ino and Deidara and, I hate to say it, another Itachi and Sakura story. That truly is sad, I don't like Itachi with Sakura, but the votes don't lie. Please don't stop reading this story just because you hate the pairing…I'm sorry it turned out this way for those of you that didn't want it but please don't take it out on me. Well…this chapter is dedicated to Ino…this is Ino's chapter, like the last one was Tenten and this next one is going to have Sakura and Itachi goodness. Ino finally gets to be face to face with Deidara and their eerily matching hairstyles. If any of you were wondering, no, I didn't add votes to my favor, which would be terrible. If any of you thought that way, shame on you. Well, enough babbling and on with the chapter! Thank you all for reviewing, you all make my day!**

**This chapter is dedicated to Muu, for being the awesome reviewer that she is, and my boyfriend Kyle, for tolerating me every day.**

**Inspiration Music: System of a Down (any song you can think of), Nymphetamine Fix by Cradle of Filth, Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace, and Come by Namie Amuro.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If you thought I did, shame on you!**

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_Chapter 3: So Many Questions_

Ino sat, glaring at the cold cement wall in front of her. That man was going to die. If there was one thing she was sure of, it was that. Somehow, someway, she was going to get out of here and kill him, even if she died trying. Whatever he did to Tenten couldn't have been good, she still hadn't returned. For his sake, he better hope she was alive. She could feel her muscles begin to cramp from being dormant for so long and she shifted painfully. Where was her rescue team? Did no one care about her anymore? Did no one care about any of them anymore? Were there lives of no importance to Tsunade anymore? No, that couldn't be it. Tsunade probably just doesn't know where they are, or maybe she thinks they are still out on their mission. Yes, that was it. Of course they cared. Naruto and Lee were probably going insane with worry for Sakura by now. Her parents, Shikamaru, and Chouji probably missed her at least a little bit. Neji probably wasn't showing it, but Ino knew he probably missed Tenten. Positive thinking. It seemed to help a lot when one was in a desperate situation. Again, Ino shifted painfully, now leaning more on her right leg.

Something just occurred to Ino. Her ponytail was gone and her long blonde hair was framing her face. It probably got snapped when she was being dragged through the forest. Her mind nagged at her, telling her she probably looked like shit. For once though, Ino truly didn't care. At the moment, there were much more important things to be worrying about. Like the fact that her leg still hadn't stopped bleeding because, like her ponytail, it must have got banged up when the Akatsuki member's were dragging her through the forest. Ino figured the only reason she hadn't passed out from blood loss yet, was the intense need to stay awake and get the hell out of this place, wherever she was. Tossing her head to the side, she felt her hair fly over her shoulder and fall into place on her back. Sighing, she slowly closed her eyes, exhaustion creeping into her bones. She knew she wouldn't fall asleep; there was no way she could get comfortable enough to fall asleep. Her ears were ringing and her head was pounding but she would not fall asleep.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming down the hallway and her eyes snapped open, hoping that it was Tenten. Ino turned her head to the door and stared intently at it, almost as though she could see right through it. Hope began to pour over her as the footsteps made their way closer and closer to her cell. Then, every ounce of hope she had coursing through her veins was washed away when the footsteps made their way past where she guessed Tenten's holding cell was and came closer to her. Now, anger began to set in. It was probably the man that had taken Tenten, and now he was going to take her too. No way, she would fight as hard as she could. Hopefully, she would be able to extract revenge on the man for taking her friend.

The footsteps stopped in front of her door and Ino somehow dragged herself to her feet. Her face was set in fiery determination. Her eyebrows knitted together in anger. Her eyes narrowed in expectation. Then the door opened and light poured through the doorway but Ino wasn't focused on that. Dipping low, she swung her body around with her right leg extended, hoping to knock his feet out from underneath him, giving her the vantage point. Luckily, her foot connected as she came back around, or so she thought. Pain began to course through her right leg and she snapped her attention to it. Where she thought she had connected with the man, her leg had painfully connected with the doorway. Standing just right of her leg was the man she had intended to hit. Ino brought her leg back to her and stood, now leaning mostly on her left leg. She glared dangerously at the man in front of her and cursed him silently. The man, on the other hand, stepped forward. Now that the light wasn't directly behind him, she could get a better look at his face. Imagine her surprise, when the man wasn't the man with silver hair and cold eyes but instead it was the man that had dragged her to this hell in the first place.

The man before her was dressed in the traditional Akatsuki cloak, black with red clouds. His hair was golden blonde with half of it tied up in a ponytail and half of it coming partway down his back. The only visible eye was a deep blue, surprisingly not cold and distant like she expected. Multiple strands of hair, like her own, covered his left eye. Now she understood that whole crack about the hairstyle. Their hair looked eerily similar, sure they had differences but there was still that scary similarity. Somehow, words were not forming properly in her voice box and all she could do was stand there.

"I don't know if I like your hairstyle anymore, un," he said, snapping her out of her daze.

"Excuse me, it's not my fault that my hair tie was broken while _somebody_ dragged me here," Ino said defiantly before realizing that she was speaking to an S-class criminal and slapping her hand over her mouth. But before she could mumble out an apology, he began to laugh. Laugh! He began to full out laugh! At something she said! Not because she was dying, not because she was in pain, but because she said something! Ino stepped back, thinking he was most likely insane. Finally, he stopped laughing and walked towards her, still smiling. Ino kept walking backwards, hoping that the cell would never end and she could stay away from the crazy man before her. Unfortunately, the cell did end and soon she found her back pressed up against the back wall. Ino stared at his hand as he brought it up and laid it casually on her shoulder. Then he gently turned her body around and Ino closed her eyes tightly, thinking this was the end. But the end never came, only…comfort. Ino opened her eyes and brought her hand up to rub them when she noticed she was still in the same disgusting cell. Half way to her eyes, she stopped. That's why she felt so much more comfortable! Her hands were free she could use them! Ino turned around to face him, about to throw her arms around him for releasing her but was stopped short when he put his hand on her shoulder again. Ino cocked her head to the side curiously, staring at him. The corners of his mouth upturned again at her expression.

"Don't want you to thank me just yet. I don't deserve it, un," he said as he pulled something out from inside his cloak. In front of her was two things, one, a black hair tie, and two, a necklace with a small pendant hanging from the bottom. Ino leaned closer to inspect it but before she could get a close enough look he unclasped it and put it around her neck, clasping it when it was in place.

"What is it?" Ino asked while moving to stand straight again. Picking it up from around her neck, she got a closer look at the pendant. There, staring back at her was a small, simple, silver bird.

"That is what's keeping your chakra at bay, and letting me know where you are at all times," he said while grabbing her hand and placing the hair tie in it. "And that, is something I thought you might want, un."

"Thanks?" Ino said, unsure of the situation. Nonetheless, she took the hair tie and began to tie up her hair in her traditional ponytail. "Uh, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead, un," he said kindly.

"Who the hell are you?" Ino asked, not forgetting her anger with Akatsuki and almost shouting at him.

"Deidara, and you, un?" Deidara asked, the shouting not fazing him much.

Ino rolled her eyes but still answered. "Yamanaka Ino, and I have another question."

"Well aren't we full of questions, but go ahead, un," Deidara said, the smile still not leaving his face.

"Are my friends okay?" Ino asked, momentarily forgetting her anger and focusing on her concern for her friends.

"Of course, Hidan-san and Itachi-san are taking good care of them," Deidara said, "now if you are finished Yamanaka-san, we should get going." He reached out again and grabbed her right shoulder, beginning to walk her out of the cell. Ino stared at the man walking in front of her warily. First, he gives her a ponytail, then, he calls her Yamanaka-san. What kind of S-class criminal is this? Ignoring it for now, she decided to take advantage of the kindness. Ino stalked behind him, mentally saying goodbye to the prison. They turned a corner, and began the trek up a set of old, creaky, wooden stairs. Ino looked down at the stairs; afraid they were going to collapse under her weight. "Don't worry Yamanaka-san, they won't break, un," Deidara said, as though reading her thoughts.

"H-Hai Deidara, and please just call me Ino, I don't like all the formalities," Ino said, taking her eyes off the stairs and focusing on the sounds coming from the door less doorway in front of them. Stepping through the light, she saw many things but she was only truly focusing on one thing. The man standing in the middle of the living room was all she truly saw. He turned his head to look at the new addition to the room and smirked sadistically.

"Well if it isn't the art bastard and mini D," Hidan said. Before anyone, especially Deidara, could react, Ino ripped away from Deidara's loose grip and was running towards the man with silver hair and red eyes. She raised her fist and swung with all her might/anger. Of course, she was stopped but by someone other than Hidan or Deidara. Turning, she stared into a pair of blood red Sharingan eyes. At first, she fully believed she was staring into Sasuke's eyes before she got a deeper look. This man…looked so much more…distant than Sasuke. He took cold to a whole new level.

"I don't believe that would be wise," he said in a deep, smooth voice, void of all emotions. Behind her, she felt a hand grab her shoulder.

"I'd have to agree with Itachi-san, Ino-chan, un," Deidara said from behind her before pulling her away from Itachi. Slowly, they began to make their way down a hallway on the right side of the room. So, she had just met Uchiha Itachi and didn't die, she supposed she was making progress in the survival area. Slowly, she turned her eyes away from the back of Deidara's head to behind her. The only thing she managed to see before she was forced to look back in front of her was Itachi making his way down the stairs Deidara and she had just abandoned. Suddenly, Deidara stopped in front of a door on the left side of the hallway, almost all the way at the end of the hallway. Ino, not paying attention ran into his back. Deidara calmly turned around casually and placed his hands gently on her shoulders, bending down to her level. "I suggest you pay more attention, Ino-chan," he said before opening the door next to them and gently pushing her inside the room, "I'll be back later, to fetch you for dinner, un."

Ino stood staring at the closed door. Sighing, she turned around and made her way through the room. It looked like a hotel room, complete with connecting bathroom. That brought a smile to Ino's lips. So, they loved the members but treated the prisoner's like dirt…made sense. Ino also noticed that Deidara seemed to have decent decorating skills, seeing as the room was impeccably clean. Slowly, she made her way to the two-person bed and sat down. Turning her head, she looked out the lone window. There standing just outside the window, was a lone Sakura Tree.

'Sakura…I hope you also survive your encounter with Uchiha Itachi,' Ino thought as she stared at a swirling Sakura blossom, falling slowly to the ground.

* * *

Tenten sat on the small bed in the room, knowing this would be the only time she would be able to enjoy the comforts of a bed. In her lap, sat Hidan's scythe and in her hand was a small, dry washcloth. She rhythmically rubbed circles with the cloth on the blades, polishing them. Moment ago, she had been in the bathroom, scrubbing dried blood off of her face and bandaging the more serious cuts on her legs and arms. Luckily, Hidan kept washcloths and bandages lying around, even though something in her mind told her he probably didn't need them. Sighing, she began to wonder about her friends. Were they okay? Did they need her? The normal questions you ask yourself when you are away from someone you love. Then, her mind drifted on to other subjects before finally stopping at Hidan. Was he okay? Did he need her? This time, after asking those questions to herself, she found that she really didn't care. Then, her mind drifted elsewhere.

* * *

**A/N: Yay! Another chapter! I really liked writing this one! It was fun…probably because I liked the character variety in it. Well, not all the characters were in it but a lot of them were mentioned and that made it all the while. I'd like to thank you all again! Please review again; I love you all so much! Signing out, Starchii!**


	3. Delirious

**A/N: Happy belated Easter everyone!! I hope everything was well during the holidays!! I had a good time, not that any of you care. I am also sad to announce that some people have stopped reviewing my story, which means they most likely have stopped reading…this makes me incredibly sad. I hope the reason behind this is something other than the fact that Itachi and Sakura won the pairing. I even asked you not to stop reading the story. I promise you guys it won't be that bad with this pairing. Well, I guess it's my loss…On the other hand; I am pleased to announce that I am letting you vote for something again!! I got this suggestion from my faithful reviewer, Raven the Guardian. They want me to make another version of this story where Zetsu and Ino and Kakuzu and Sakura are the pairings. I thought this was a fairly good idea and wanted to know if anyone else wanted me to do this. I don't want to do this if no one is going to read it, so I'm asking you to vote yet again. Keep in mind that I wouldn't be doing this until this story has ended. Then, depending on which version gets the most love, I will sequel it. Well…I'll stop rambling and let you enjoy this chapter.**

**This chapter is dedicated to all four of the reviewers that reviewed the last chapter with special mention to Ino Yamanaka Godess, for making me feel good inside and Kyle, for putting up with me day after day.**

**Inspiration Music: All the songs off of A.F.I's Decemeberunderground C.D, Wasteland by 10 Years, Sidewinder by Avenged Sevenfold, Breath by Breaking Benjamin, Sanctuary by Utada Hikaru, and Sakura Drops by Utada Hikaru.**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Naruto…or any of the characters in it (that's the sad part).**

* * *

_Chapter 4: Delirious_

Sakura lay on the ground in a heap of clothes and flesh. Her arm throbbed painfully and soon she was becoming weak, from hunger, blood loss, and pain. Her vision was blurring and colors seemed to dance before her eyes. The only thing she was truly aware of was, in fact, the pain in her arm. Everything else, from the uncomforting floor to the bead of sweat running down the pale skin of her face, went unnoticed to the kunoichi. Consciousness was slowly fading away from her but it seemed like bliss to her. The only thing keeping her conscious now was the painful throb of her arm and the escalating worry for her friends. Now, both Ino and Tenten were taken out of this hellish prison. Moments ago, she had seen the head of a blonde Akatsuki member walking with Ino towards what she guessed was the entrance to the prison. She cursed her arm for being broken, making unconsciousness all that more out of her reach.

Faintly, she heard the sound of someone opening her cell door. Moving her hazy eyes towards the figure in the doorway, she saw someone she thought she'd never see again, Sasuke. Confusion and hope settled over her broken and tired body as she stared at the Uchiha. Her chin quivered from not only coldness but also happiness. Someone had come to save her! It wasn't who she was expecting but it didn't matter, she was going to be rescued and by her one true love. Sakura managed to give a weak smile as Sasuke moved towards her slowly. He knelt down next to her and placed a hand on her forehead, as though checking her temperature.

"Sakura, are you going to be okay?" Sasuke asked her as he looked into her sea foam green eyes with worry.

"Now that you're here Sasuke-kun, I'll b-be f-fine," Sakura managed to get out in nothing short on a whisper. The last thing she remembered before her body lost the battle and slipped into unconsciousness, was Sasuke scooping her up bridle style and standing to walk out of the door.

* * *

Itachi stared at the prone figure in his arms. She had finally slipped into unconsciousness after calling him by his brother's name. Sakura must have been more delirious than he first suspected. His mind immediately knew something was wrong when he walked into the cell and saw the strong-willed kunoichi in a heap on the hard, slimy floor. Staring at her for only another brief moment, he began to make his way out of the cell only stopping once to relock the door. Following the same path as Hidan and Deidara, he moved slowly up the decaying stairs and into the small sitting room. Not stopping, he continued down the hallway with the multiple doors lining the sides before stopping at the last door on the right hand side. Carefully, he reached out and opened the door without disturbing the kunoichi. Itachi then walked into his room and placed her on the bed, again without disturbing her. His sharingan replaced his onyx black eyes and he began to assess the problems with her weak body. Slowly, his mind drifted to the memory of what had just happened.

**Flashback**

Itachi glanced back over to the hallway, only to see the Yamanaka girl run into the back of Deidara. Shaking his head slightly at the stupidity of the situation, he began to walk down the stairs again towards the holding cells. He moved with grace through the hallway, around the one turn, and finally to the front of the small cell holding one Haruno Sakura. Itachi knew of the kunoichi. Only small details, such as the fact that she was on the same team as the Kyuubi container and his younger brother…well was until his brother foolishly left Konoha in search of the snake-man, Orochimaru. The girl no doubt blamed him for his brother's disappearance but he truly didn't care. Punching the six digit code into the platform and waited for the bolts to slide out of place. Finally, he heard the annoying sound of metal clashing on metal and watched as the door slowly slid partway open. Pushing it the rest of the way, he stood in the doorway staring at the broken girl lying haphazardly in the middle of the floor.

Immediately, her eyes found him and a look of confusion and shock settled onto her face. Something was wrong, of that he was sure. The look of confusion and shock eventually drained from her face, replaced by a small, weak smile and hope shining in her eyes. Deciding it best to move towards her and figure out what was wrong, he took the few steps necessary to close the space between the two of them. Slowly, he knelt down on one knee next to her and placed a hand on her forehead, making sure she was not dying or burning up with fever.

Itachi asked her something, trying to discern what was wrong with her. "Sakura, are you able to move?" He asked of her, not expecting the reaction that followed.

"Now that you're here Sasuke-kun, I'll b-be f-fine," Sakura said in a small, weak voice that sounded almost strained. Itachi looked at her with his red eyes narrowed, she was most definitely delusional. Knowing she was too weak to move on her own, he picked her up carefully, so as not to do more damage to her already broken body. Then, he stood slowly all the while keeping his eyes locked on hers. When he stood fully, her eyes began to flutter and finally close, obviously losing consciousness.

**End Flashback**

* * *

Tenten still sat in the same spot on the bed waiting impatiently for Hidan to return. The dry washcloth was still in her right hand rubbing rhythmic circles on the beautiful weapon in her lap. She was already able to see her reflection in two out of the three blades and now she was working diligently on the last one. Truly, she didn't know why she was cleaning his weapon for him, seemingly doing him a favor. Tenten told herself she just didn't want such a great weapon to go untreated and left it at that. Slowly, her reflection came into view on the third and final blade and three Tentens now stared back at the original. Smiling proudly at her work, she set the washcloth aside.

"What the hell are you doing to my scythe?" Tenten heard a gruff, angry voice ask from beside her. Her head snapped to the side and noticed Hidan standing there, giving her a look of disgust.

"I was just cleaning it," Tenten said before picking it up from her lap and holding it out to him. Hidan snatched it from her hand rudely and leaned it on the wall, next to a dresser.

"I could see that. But, why the hell were you even touching it?" Hidan asked, still looking at her with disgust.

"Well, I didn't have anything better to do," Tenten said defiantly while standing up and meeting his glare. Hidan reached out and grabbed the front of her loose shirt and brought her close to him so that he towered over her.

"Don't fucking do it again," Hidan said, bending down so that they're foreheads were almost touching and his hot breath caressed her face. Again, Tenten cursed herself for being a girl and began to blush at the closeness of their bodies. Noticing the blush, Hidan shoved her back a bit and huffed. "Whatever, I'll just clean it again. Alright, panda, it's time for dinner," he said his voice no longer holding as much anger.

"A-Alright," Tenten said softly, mentally berating herself for stuttering. Hidan nodded in acceptance and began to walk out of the room. Tenten seemed confused that he wasn't leading her; nonetheless, she followed after him.

* * *

Ino sat calmly at the edge of Deidara's bed, still staring out at the same Sakura tree. Unconsciously, she had begun to cry. The stress of the day or days had finally begun to catch up to her. She no longer knew what happened to her friends…and there was nothing she could do even if they were hurt. Tenten was with Hidan, probably the biggest asshole alive, unless you counted Kabuto, and then Sakura was with Itachi, another Uchiha who had the power to crush her…this time physically not emotionally. Not to mention she had awoken to the sound of her screaming. She felt like nothing was in her control anymore, her life was slowly coming apart at the seams. Tears raced from her cerulean blue eyes and onto her hands, folded in her lap.

"You might not want the others to see you cry, they'll probably make fun of you, un," Ino heard Deidara say from beside her. She looked at him and nodded before standing and walking to the bathroom. Once alone, she let out one final sob before grabbing the nearest washcloth and soaking it in water and washing away her salty tears. Slowly, she walked back out into the room and found Deidara staring at the same Sakura tree she had just abandoned.

"Arigatou, Deidara," Ino said softly. Deidara turned to her and gave her a smile.

"By the way, I like your hair again. I realized that your hair was like art, fleeting. One minute, it's beautiful, the next it's gone, un," Deidara said as he walked over to her.

"Really, I always thought that art was more of a long-lasting thing, like flowers," Ino said, ignoring the rising anger that she felt that he was making fun of her hair.

"So did Sasori and now he's dead, un," he said matter-of-factly as he stopped in front of her. Ino looked at him strangely before opening her mouth to ask about this Sasori person. Noticing this, Deidara cut her off before she was able to even speak. "Ino-chan, I don't feel like talking about it right now, let's go to dinner."

"Okay, Deidara," Ino said, deciding it best to drop the subject for now but taking special care to remember the name Sasori so she could ask about it later. She moved aside so he could lead the way and then followed after him. They walked through the same sitting room and only then did Ino notice that Deidara only had one arm. Not feeling like dragging up bad subjects, she just let it go, prepared to ask about it later along with Sasori. They made a right turn into another hallway; identical to the one they had just left. They walked all the way to the back of the corridor and turned into the last room on the left side. Ino looked around the room and noticed a wide variety of people scattered around the room, talking. There were about six people in all standing around the room. In the middle of the chaos stood a lone table with twelve chairs placed around it.

"Deidara, is this all the members of Akatsuki?" Ino asked quietly, so no one else would hear her.

"No, we're missing Zetsu, because he refuses to eat with us. Says he has a strict diet. Also, we're missing Leader-sama, but he never eats with us…or does anything with us, un," Deidara said just as quietly. Ino nodded and looked at the other S-class criminals. She saw a very strange man out in the fray. This man was literally blue with gills and small white eyes, like a shark, it scared her shitless. Then there were two men with their faces completely covered, one with an orange mask with a black spiral and only one eyehole, the other with a hitae-ite from Takigakure in the form of a bandana, very much like Morino Ibiki, and a mask covering his nose and mouth, much like Hatake Kakashi. This man seemed to be talking with Hidan, or more arguing. Next to Hidan, stood a very familiar face, Tenten. Ino's eyes lit up at the sight of her friend and immediately began to run towards her. Not even bothering to say hello, Ino threw her arms around Tenten. At first Tenten's body went rigid out of impulse, but then she relaxed in her friends arms and also flung her arms around Ino.

"Thank Kami-sama you're okay, Ino," Tenten said when Ino finally pulled away.

"No, you should thank _Jashin_-sama," Hidan said from beside Tenten, reminding the girls they were still in the clutches of Akatsuki.

"Forget Jashin, Hidan, nobody cares about him besides you," the man with the Takigakure hitae-ite said. Hidan turned to him, enraged.

"Oh yeah, Kakuzu! Well, no one cares about money besides you!" Hidan yelled, thus throwing the two into another argument. Deciding it best to ignore the pair, Tenten and Ino turned back to each other.

"Well, now all we need is Sakura," Ino said depressingly.

Tenten nodded. "Yeah, if only we knew who she was supposed to be with," she said.

"Well, I know that…it's Uchiha Itachi," Ino said suddenly quiet. Tenten's eyes widened at the new piece of information.

"The Uchiha Itachi?" Tenten said, now in shock. Ino nodded and then turned away from Tenten, sure she had seen Itachi in the room with the other Akatsuki members. Not finding him anywhere, she turned back to Tenten. Before she had the chance to say anything, she heard her name being called out.

"Ino-chan! Let me introduce you to my annoying teammate…he won't leave me alone until he meets you, un," Deidara said from across the room.

"Ino-chan?" Tenten asked incredulously.

"Long story. I'll be right back," Ino said while trotting over to Deidara. She wasn't sure why she listened to him, probably because he actually sounded angry for once.

"Alright. Ino this is Tobi, Tobi this is Ino, un," Deidara said, trying to keep the conversation between Tobi and himself as short as possible.

"Yup! I am the great and amazing, Tobi!" Said the man with the orange mask. Ino looked at him curiously, trying to decide who he reminded her of.

"Hello, I'm Yamanaka Ino," Ino said, holding out her hand to the hyperactive Akatsuki member. He took the hand with his own and shook it quickly and hard, making Ino's whole body move with her hand. Now, she knew who he reminded her of…Naruto. He had the same hyperactive nature as Naruto; it made the blonde kunoichi smile.

"Alright, time to eat. Sit down and shut up," said a voice from across the room. Ino looked over her shoulder and saw Itachi standing there with a pot. Everyone began flooding to his or her seats.

"Ino! Sit next to me please!" Tobi asked her excitedly, again reminding her of Naruto.

"Ino-chan is sitting next to me," Deidara said, his voice low and dangerous.

"Aw, come on Deidara-senpai, she can sit between us," Tobi said trying to reason with him.

"Fine, whatever," Deidara said, he was not happy with the idea of sitting so close to Tobi. The trio took seats on the left side of the table, while Tenten, Hidan, and Kakuzu took seats on the right side with Tenten in the middle and Kakuzu across from Ino. The blue, shark man took a seat across from Deidara, near the head of the table. It seemed the loner of the table was Hidan, sitting at the very end of the table farthest away from the head of the table. Itachi set the pot in the middle of the table and took his seat and the head of the table, Deidara on his right and the blue, shark man on his left. The pot was passed to everyone, all it held was rice but everyone took a helping. "Itachi-san is not a very good cook, so whenever it's his turn to cook he makes rice, un," Deidara explained to Ino and Tenten.

"Well, I believe introductions are in order, but before that, I need you to come into my room later and take a look at Sakura. _Someone_ broke her arm," Itachi said at first to Kakuzu then glaring pointedly at Hidan.

"Yeah, yeah sorry ice cube but she pissed me off," Hidan said never taking his eyes off of his food.

"Anyways, I'm Kisame and I know I look like a shark so don't point it out to me," said the blue, shark man, making Ino smile slightly. He had changed the subject before Itachi or Hidan could get injured.

"I'm Kakuzu, the Treasurer of Akatsuki," said the man Hidan had previously been arguing with.

"Uh…I'm Tenten?" Tenten said, unsure of the situation but going along with it.

"Who am I, panda?" Hidan asked smirking as he turned towards Tenten. "You should have remembered."

"Shouldn't you know your own name, Hidan?" Deidara asked cheekily. Hidan shot him a glare before turning back to his food. Deidara laughed at himself, as did Tobi, Kisame, Ino, and Tenten. "Anyways, I'm Deidara, un," he said with a smile on his face.

"I'm Yamanaka Ino," Ino said defiantly looking around the table.

"I'm the great and amazing Tobi!" Tobi said with one fist pumped in the air.

"I am Uchiha Itachi," Itachi said coldly, he never was fond of chaos. Everyone noticed his glare and began to eat in silence. That is until, Hidan and Kakuzu got into yet another argument, causing Tobi and Deidara to get at each other. Ino and Tenten took this opportunity to try and talk to each other. Kisame sat staring at the chaos but ignored it and turned back to his food. Itachi sat staring at all the people arguing/talking and decided it best to just give-up and leave. Taking a plate of food for Sakura, he left the organized chaos behind.

* * *

**A/N: Well, now the entire Akatsuki is in it…except Zetsu. But he'll come in soon!! I promise!! Well don't forget to vote and review…please review. Signing out, Starchii!**


	4. Shove Me In The Shallow Water

**A/N: Well all…just thought I'd let you know I started this chapter extremely early compared to my other chapters. I did this because…well…I got so much love on the last chapter!! I love all of you!! You guys rock!!…A lot…yeah. Oh yeah, just for fun, if you're reading this right now type in your review, Monkey-luscious awesomeness. I want to see how many people actually read my author's note, ha. On to the results of the voting:**

**Yes: 3**

**No: 1**

**So far, people want me to do that idea. If you don't know what idea I'm talking about, I suggest you go back to the last chapter and read the author's note. Wow, I'm being mean. I'm sorry guys. I got my prom dress today!! Yay!! Not that any of you care…Another reason why I'm updating early is because ideas for this story have been swimming in my head all day and night, not leaving me alone. Most of these ideas have been centering on future Tenten and Hidan goodness. Some of it is Deidara and Ino and Itachi and Sakura…but not really. Well, enough babbling.**

**This chapter is dedicated to Muu, Raven the Guardian, Ino Yamanaka Godess, and Dakotarox14 for being awesome reviewers, inspiring me, and making me feel good inside. Also, I give special mention to my boyfriend, Kyle, for loving me and tolerating my stupidity.**

**Warning: There will be kissing in this chapter…just thought I'd let you know.**

**Inspiration Music: Breath by Breaking Benjamin (I know this was on the list last time but I just realized how much it reminded me of Tenten and Hidan), All That I've Got by The Used, Dead! by My Chemical Romance, The End by My Chemical Romance, Endlessly, She Said by A.F.I (for Sakura), and Famous Last Words by My Chemical Romance (Ino and Deidara). By the way, the title of this story came from a song…I don't remember the name or else it would be on the list. I just wanted you all to know that, and didn't think I am pulling this shit out of my ass.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…and sadly…never will. Monkey-luscious awesomeness!! (Yes, I did make that up…)**

* * *

_Chapter 5: Shove Me In The Shallow Water, Before I Get Too Deep_

Ino stalked slowly after her blonde counterpart. Dinner had gone…smoothly. She preferred not to think about all the arguments and near death experiences that occurred during the course of the evening. Even Tenten and she had ended up getting into something of a spat and without Itachi there to stop the madness everyone was going insane. Her eyes examined the wall, not really paying attention, too lost in thought to care about patterns of wallpaper. A scowl was plastered on her lips as she remembered that she was to share a room with Deidara. She wasn't sure if she was going to live through the night knowing some strange, S-Class criminal man was lying only inches away from her, her eyes cringed at the thought. Ino had already decided that she was most likely going to share the bed with Deidara that is, unless he offered to sleep on the floor. She'd be damned if she let him take the bed for himself. Not that she would put up something of a fight when he brought up the idea of sharing a bed. Deciding it best to forget about it until the moment actually occurred, she walked into the room right after Deidara.

Deidara moved over to the dresser and pulled out, what looked like, pajamas. He walked back over to Ino and held them out to her.

"I took these out of your backpack, thought you might want them, un," Deidara said nonchalantly. Ino looked at the pajamas in his hand and gently took them from him. Then, her mind clicked on something.

"Wait! You looked through my bag! Pervert!" Ino screeched at him before stomping into the bathroom and slamming the door behind her. Deidara looked at the door in confusion for a moment before shaking his head. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Ino walked out of the bathroom, holding her ripped clothing in her hands. When she came out, Deidara was sitting at the edge of his bed, with nothing but a pair of black boxer shorts on, looking at the Sakura tree outside his window. Noticing his clothing, or lack thereof, Ino blushed like mad. Deidara took this moment to turn around and smirked.

"What's the matter Ino-chan, un?" Deidara asked in a teasing sense. Ino snapped out of her daze and rather bad thoughts about the man and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Nothing's the matter, for your information!" Ino yelled crossing her arms and turning her head to the side. Hearing him sigh, she turned back to look at him only then remembering the topics she had to discuss with him. "Does it hurt, Deidara-san?" She asked in a soft voice as she walked over to him.

"Does what hurt…Oh this, not anymore, un," Deidara said, gesturing to his missing, left forearm.

"Care to tell me what, exactly, happened?" Ino asked as she sat down next to him. Deidara turned to her, a smirk plastered on his face.

"Since when do you care, at all, about me, Ino-chan, un?" Deidara asked, the smirk still on his face. Ino looked shocked, and then narrowing her eyes she shot back at him.

"I don't! I was just curious!" Ino yelled yet still blushing. Deidara chuckled while lying back on the bed, his hands interlocked behind his head.

"Maybe some other time, Ino-chan, un," Deidara said like he was talking to a four year old saying 'maybe when you're older'.

"Well, then care to tell me about this Sasori person now?" Ino asked getting angry at his secrecy and just about ready to use her Mind Transfer Jutsu so she could see into his mind.

"Not really, but I will anyway since you are most likely going to be persistent about it. Sasori was my former teammate, before Tobi, and your friend, Sakura-san, and his grandmother, Chiyo, killed him. That's all you really need to know, un," Deidara said not leaving any room for opposition and unnaturally serious. Ino looked at him and all she could do was nod. His voice just seemed to tell her to drop the subject before she got in too deep and, for once, she listened. Deidara looked over to Ino and smiled lightly at her when he noticed her confused face. "Well, Ino-chan, I suggest you get some sleep. I'm willing to bet Leader-sama has something in store for you tomorrow. Do you mind sharing the bed, un?" Deidara asked, his voice back to the normal cheeriness. Ino just vacantly shook her head, forgetting all about her earlier opinions on the subject and laid back, next to the S-Class criminal.

* * *

Tenten rubbed the weariness out of her eyes as she stood outside the bathroom door, waiting for Hidan to get done changing his clothes. In her hands, she held a pair of the religious criminal's pajamas. He told her that she didn't have any in her bag and she had blatantly explained that she never wore pajamas because in times of emergency, she might have to jump out of bed and start throwing around weapons. At first, Tenten had been a little perturbed that he even had pajamas and he had blatantly explained that he only really had pajama pants and had just given her a random shirt. He also explained to her that once she was gone he was going to burn every single thing she touched except his weapon. Finally, he walked out of the bathroom and when he noticed her standing there, seemed to get confused.

"What the hell are you doing, panda?" Hidan asked her.

"Waiting for the bathroom, what does it look like?" Tenten said, narrowing her eyes.

Hidan rolled his eyes at her. "Why the hell didn't you just change out here while I was in the bathroom?" He asked her rudely. Tenten began to blush from embarrassment, why hadn't she thought of that?

"Uh, cause I need to use the bathroom," Tenten said, making up a quick excuse. Hidan just shook his head and let her pass.

"That makes one more damn thing I have to burn," Hidan mumbled as she walked past him. Once inside, Tenten quickly changed her clothes and all her bandages on her legs. Then she flushed the toilet, to make her excuse seem real, and walked back out into the room. Hidan sat on his bed with his weapon in his lap, cleaning it. He only shot her a quick glance before pointing to a corner of the room. Tenten followed his finger and found her bag sitting there. She walked there and set her tattered clothing inside, noticing the lack of scrolls inside her bag. At least they were smart enough to keep her weapons away from her. Standing up, she turned to Hidan.

"So, where am I supposed to sleep?" Tenten asked already noticing the lack of a couch or chair. Hidan looked up at her only for a second before turning back to his work.

"Where the hell do you think? On the floor," he said detachedly. Tenten sighed, figuring this, and sat down deciding this was as good a place as any. Then she lay down on the uncomfortable floor before turning over onto her side. Vaguely, she was reminded of the cell and shivered. Hearing the commotion, Hidan turned to her and sighed. "Oh damn it, you are so fucking pathetic. Get the hell over here. I didn't really want to burn my entire bed but oh well," Hidan said before standing up and leaning his scythe on the wall. Tenten rolled over to him and sat up.

"Are you serious?" Tenten asked, a little shocked at his sudden politeness.

"Yes, unfortunately, I'm fucking serious," Hidan said rather rudely while walking over to her. Tenten watched him as he walked closer to her, only now noticing the fact that he had a bare chest. "Well, are you going to get up or not?" He said, beginning to lose his patience with her. Tenten nodded and stood now standing inches from him. Hidan nodded, satisfied, and began to walk away.

"Well, it looks like someone is getting soft," Tenten mumbled. Unfortunately, Hidan heard every word.

"What hell did you just say?" Hidan asked his voice dangerously low, as he turned back around to face her, his face contorted in anger.

"Uh, n-nothing," Tenten said, fear evident in her voice. She felt like a small animal in the clutches of this mad man and it enraged her. Hidan smirked and began to turn back around. "You know what! No! I did say something! I said it looks like someone is getting soft! Does that make you happy!" Tenten yelled, getting fed up of being so afraid around him. Hidan stopped and flipped back around, disappearing. He reappeared in front of her and his hand shot out, grabbing a hold of her throat. Tenten had no time to react as he thrust her body up against the wall behind her. Immediately, her hands shot up and grabbed a hold of the hand gripping her throat. Impulsively, Tenten began to choke. With his free hand, he grabbed her struggling hands and pinned both of them above her head.

"Alright, bitch. You better listen very carefully because I'm not going to repeat this. I don't give a damn about you or what you do and never forget that," he said, his voice again dangerously low. Still, he neglected to let go of her oxygen-deprived body.

"H-Hidan…y-you're…h-hurting m-me," Tenten managed to rasp out in between gasps of breath. Hidan just smirked at her struggling. "H-Hidan…I-I…" Tenten started as she began to lose consciousness.

"H-Hidan…I-I…I-I," her eyes began to steadily close, "I-I…l-love…y-you," she finished, not completely aware of the consequences of what she just said. Quickly, Hidan dropped her to the floor, his eyes widening in surprise. Tenten fell to the floor, unceremoniously and began to suck in oxygen.

'At least that plan actually worked,' she thought to herself as she looked up to see if Hidan was looking at her with disgust. Instead, she was surprised to find that he was no longer standing in front of her at all. Her eyes began to scan the entire room, trying to decipher where he had gone. Suddenly, she felt a warm hand gently grab a hold of her chin and move her head to the left. There, Hidan was kneeling, eye level with her, a strange look on his face. Just as quickly as he had appeared next to her, he moved closer to her and his lips pressed against hers softly. Tenten's eyes widened in surprise at the sudden contact but she found that she didn't have the strength or the willpower to move away. Slowly, her eyes closed and she moved her lips against his, deepening the kiss. Hidan smirked against her lips and moved his hand from her face to around her waist. A shiver moved down her spine from the contact, and she scooted closer to him, her body fitting perfectly against his. Soon, Tenten found herself begging for more and Hidan gave it to her, parting his lips. Their tongues met and danced together. Her right hand traced a line up his back and neck, finally ending in his hair. She began to run her calloused hands through his slicked, silver hair. It was soft to the touch and she found herself unable to move her hands from his soft, silver locks. Suddenly, Hidan ended the kiss and sat back on the floor. Tenten found herself wanting more of the warm contact on her lips. Opening her eyes, she saw Hidan sitting in front of her, a dangerous smirk playing on his lips.

"Two can play that game, panda." Is all he said to her, but it was enough. Her eyes widened in shock, yet again. He had just played her game, and won! Hidan must have discovered her plan and used it against her.

"H-How did you know?" Tenten asked, in shock.

"You're not that hard to read, panda. Sorry if that bursts your bubble, but it's only the hard truth. So, panda-_chan_, do you still love me?" Hidan asked, purposely adding the stressed suffix to her new nickname. Tenten found it hard to speak, and clutched her throat. Had she really just kissed this man and enjoyed it? No, she hated him with everything inside of her. Or did she? She found herself doubting it.

"I'll just sleep on the floor. Thanks for the offer, though, Hidan-_san_," Tenten said almost sickly polite.

"We should play this game more often," Hidan said, before standing up and moving over to the bed. "By the way, Tenten, you are going to sleep on the bed. I took the time to offer it to you, so you're sleeping on the damn bed," he said, using her name for the first time since she met him. Tenten looked up at him when he said her real name. Not wanting to anger him more and get into another situation like the one that just occurred, she stood and walked over to him. Nodding he pointed to the left side of the bed. Knowing what he meant, she laid down on the left side. Satisfied, he walked to the right side and lay down next to her. She moved her body to the far left, as far away from him as possible.

Her mind replayed what had just happened over and over in her mind, before she finally came to a conclusion. Hidan was the only person she had ever kissed. That part of the conclusion made her blush and as she stared at his back, she blushed even fiercer. Hidan was the only person that she had ever told she loved, even if it was fake. That part of the conclusion confused her and made her want to turn back time and stop her from ever saying it. Hidan was no Neji and never would be. This part made her angry, extremely angry. Inside of her, she had hidden her crush for the Hyuuga prodigy for quite some time. It made her angry that she had just thrown away that crush to some S-Class criminal who happened to discover her plan. The last part of her conclusion, and perhaps the most startling, was that she had possibly thrown herself into something so deep, so complex that she probably would never escape.

* * *

Sakura woke in complete and total comfort. She smiled lightly, turning over, enjoying the warmth of the comforter. Memories danced at the corners of her mind but she ignored them, putting them off as nothing but a dream. Ignorance is bliss, they say. This moment for Sakura proved that statement very true. Not finding comfort she turned back onto her back, feeling cold metal against the skin of her chest. Finding this strange, she opened her eyes and looked at her chest to find the perpetrator. Noticing a chain, she gently pulled the rest of the necklace out from underneath her shirt. Confused, she began to examine the pendant at the end of the chain. It was a small red stone, she wasn't sure what kind, but that wasn't the strange part. Embedded into it there seemed to be a small black shuriken. Sakura stared at the strange pendant before deciding that the memories were most definitely not a dream…but then, where was she? She was sure that Sasuke had rescued her, but where did he take her? Her eyes began to scan the room, starting on the right side and slowly making their way over to the left. She noticed she was in some sort of hotel room…decorated in black. The carpets were black, the paint on the wall was black, even the comforter on the bed was black.

"You've finally awoken, Sakura-san," she heard a deep voice say to the left of her. Snapping her attention to the new voice, she saw…she rubbed her eyes to make sure she saw correctly, but when the image in front of her didn't change her stomach curled in fright. Standing not ten feet from her was the very person she hated above all else, and yet feared more than anyone else. Standing before her eyes, was none other than Uchiha Itachi. Quickly, she jumped from the bed and stood, trying to get more distance between the two of them.

"G-Get away from me you bastard," Sakura said, trying to sound as brave as possible. Itachi only stared at her, his face void of emotions.

"There is food on the table next to you," he said to her, his voice cold and distant. Sakura only quickly glanced at the food before looking back at the Uchiha prodigy.

"I wouldn't eat food you gave me, you probably poisoned it!" Sakura yelled, trying fruitlessly to convince him that she was not afraid of him. Itachi nodded and sat back down on the couch he had just abandoned. Sakura searched his face for any signs of hostility but soon got aggravated at the lack of just about anything readable on his face. Her eyebrows furrowed in anger and she stared at him and he just stared back at the scared, confused kunoichi.

"Well, Sakura-san, I'm going to go thank Kakuzu for helping me in this matter, please try not to destroy the room," Itachi said as he once again stood. Slowly, he walked past her and to the door, leaving the room. Sakura stared at the door in shock. What the hell just happened? Did Uchiha Itachi just say he was going to thank someone? If anything, she had expected Uchiha Itachi to be the most disgusting man on the planet. He would be tall with dark eyes and dark hair, a malicious grin constantly on his face showing how insane he truly was. Itachi would be rude, cold, distant, heartless, and sadistic. Where was that man? Strangely, she was more afraid of the man that had just left her than the one that had plagued her nightmares for months.

Sakura sat back down on the bed and looked to the ground. Apparently she had been asleep for quite some time, but she still felt exhausted. Her eyes found the floor as she dawned on the truth. Sasuke really hadn't rescued her it had been Itachi. Her mind had fed her the lie that she so desperately wanted to grasp. Yet, she found it incredibly easy to give up on the fantasy that this was all dream and she would wake up any minute back in Konoha with Naruto and Sasuke. Her heartache was something that went so deep that it was hard to believe Sasuke had ever even existed in the first place. Sakura loved him, but he knew not of the word love and had left her to deal without him. Of course, Naruto had been there for her at first, constantly at her side making promises to her that she, personally, knew were almost impossible to keep. Something inside of her had clung to the promises, though, and when Naruto left with Jaraiya to train the promises also left. It was difficult for Sakura to comprehend, but soon she found herself believing that everything she ever knew was a lie. Slowly, she was losing control of the fabric of her life and it was driving her closer to insanity. Luckily, Tsunade had been there for her and had sent her away from the village of her torment. A simple mission was all it was with two of her closest friends, Tenten and Ino, and yet, somehow it was enough to sew the seams of her life back together. Now, as she stared blankly at the floor, she felt herself unraveling once again.

* * *

**A/N: Whoa, that last part was deep. Poor Sakura is losing her mind and it's simply because she realized Sasuke hadn't rescued her. Stuff like that is kind of hard for me to write but I think I pulled that off quite nicely.**

**Well, before I end this, I'd like to clear some things up with all of you. First, Tenten didn't actually mean it when she said she loved Hidan. She said that so he would be surprised enough to let her go, thus she wouldn't die. Smart thinking was all that was. Next, Ino is slowly beginning to see the Deidara that we all know and love. He showed her more of himself in this chapter and she was confused with the sudden new him. Lastly, I'd like to address the fact that Itachi and Sakura will probably never come to terms with their feelings for each other. Sakura will probably always be confused about her feelings for him and Itachi believes emotions make one weak, thus leading to him neglecting his own emotions. Right now, Sakura is still trying to figure herself out. She is trying desperately to let go of a fantasy that she knows will never occur and it's driving her insane.**

**Well, I think I got all of it. Thank you for reading! Please, please review they make my day! Toodles, Starchii!**


	5. Sometimes

**A/N: Wow…not only does this chapter suck, but it's extremely late! I feel like a slacker…I do have excuses…such as the fact that I have had failing social health…sounds funky, I know, but it's the cold hard truth. Then, after those conflicts were finally resolved, I rediscovered Gaia Online role-playing forums. I got addicted, AGAIN! But, here I am, back from the dead. Oh, and contrary to popular belief this chapter sucks worse than any other chapter I have ever written, including previous stories. Well, on a better mood, I'm thinking of starting another story soon. It would be a Teen Titans story with several crossovers including Naruto, with all of our favorite kunoichi and villains. Other shows/video games included, but not restricted to, in the crossover will be Inuyasha (just can't resist), Kingdom Hearts, and Fruits Basket. The story will center on Raven, and there will be OC's, but they aren't going to be the main portion of the story. Tell me what you think of the idea and also tell me if you want to see a specific show or character in the crossover mania!**

**-Looks at amount of hits and reviews and begins to throw and party for herself- That is the most reviews and hits I have ever had!! This is awesome!!**

**This chapter is dedicated to Muu, for being an awesome beta reader, my boyfriend Dave, for tolerating me when he really shouldn't, and my best friends Mike and Kyle, for always being there for me, even if the latter is being somewhat a pain in the ass.**

**Inspiration Music: The Truth About Heaven by Armor For Sleep (for Deidara and Ino), The Bird and The Worm by The Used (for anyone in this chapter who seems mentally unstable), I Wrote This Song by Making April (for Tenten), and Leave Out All The Rest by Linkin Park (for Sakura)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, very unfortunate, I know.**

_Sometimes_

_You're traveling  
a highway, the only road_

_You've ever known,_

_And wham! A semi_

_Comes from nowhere_

_And rolls right over you._

_Sometimes_

_You don't wake up._

_But if you happen_

_To, you know things_

_Will never be_

_The same._

_Sometimes_

_That's not_

_So bad._

_Sometimes_

_Lives intersect,_

_No rhyme, no reason,_

_Except, perhaps,_

_For a passing semi._

_From Impulse by Ellen Hopkins._

Chapter 6: Sometimes

Deidara stared at the girl lying next to him. They had decided to move under the comforter and blankets to fall asleep, instead of staying on top of them. Finally, he saw her breathing steady and her face relax. He knew she was asleep and he knew he should also be asleep, but he ignored the nagging in his head and continued staring at Ino. It was funny to him, how a simple moment could drag up memories he had long forgotten. Deidara had met this girl before, years ago. He remembered her sweet, innocent face. He remembered all the bandages she wore, most likely to look 'cool'. Most of all, he remembered the envy he felt towards her. He longed for a life as simple as hers, so easy.

It was years ago, when he was still part of the village of Iwagakure. Deidara was in Konoha for his second attempt at the Chuunin Exams. The first time he took the test, it had been held in his village, making him feel more comfortable. He had failed, like everyone had expected him to do. So, then he was sent, with two others, to Konoha to be the sole representatives from Iwa to participate in the Chuunin Exams.

**Flashback**

Deidara and his two teammates walked casually through the main gates of the supposed 'Village Hidden in the Leaves'. Vaguely, Deidara wondered how such a simple, cheerful village became so feared and powerful. His teammates scowled at the village, but the three continued on. They walked through the crowd on the main path, trying to get to their hotel.

His team consisted of all boys, but Deidara's teammates treated him like the kunoichi. They made him stay back from all the fights, either protecting their client or waiting to see if one of them needed medical attention. He smirked dangerously at the thought, knowing it'd be quite a bang when his teammates found out he mastered his bloodline limit.

Suddenly, a flash of pink caught his eye, knocking him from his musing. Turning his head, he saw a girl with long, pale, blonde hair tied in a ponytail, exhausted from what looked like a chase. Feeling eyes on her, she looked up to find Deidara staring at her. She smiled and began over to him. Momentarily shocked by her forwardness, he stood and watched as she moved at a quick pace over to him.

"Shinobi-san, did you happen to see a girl with pink hair and a HUGE forehead run past here? You see, it is absolutely necessary that I know because this girl thinks she's so much better than me 'cause Sasuke placed a hand on her shoulder so he could tell her to move," she said, her voice steadily rising as she explained her situation. Deidara stared at her, only catching the part about pink hair. Moving his eyes to look for his teammates, he noticed they had abandoned him.

"Well little girl-san, I did see a pin-," he started to say before another voice cut him off.

"Oi, Ino-pig! Sasuke so likes me better than you, and totally wants my body!" The little girl with pink hair said from a nearby rooftop. Ino narrowed her eyes and Deidara noticed her fists clench. Noticing her anger, the pink haired girl began to smile in triumph and took off again. Ino followed suite by jumping on the rooftop her apparent rival had just abandoned. As he started away, he heard Ino yell back to the other girl.

"Oh yeah! Well, you're just jealous because I just talked to a really cute older boy!" Deidara couldn't help but blush at the small compliment. Just then, his teammates came out of a nearby shop.

"Done talking to your clone?" His teammate Ryu said, laughing. Yutolio, his other teammate, began to laugh and they walked away from him.

**End Flashback**

Deidara smiled at the memory, remembering soon after that, during the month they had between second and third exam, his teammates had 'tragically' been killed in an explosion. The building they were staying in 'just happened' to explode while he was out shopping for food. He didn't even feel guilty, no one else was in the building, and he made sure of that. Turning over to his other side, he felt his eyes slowly close and his mind slowly slipped into the realm of sleep.

* * *

Tenten sat at the edge of the bed, letting the early morning sun shine over her. In her lap sat her backpack and currently she was rummaging through it, looking to see what had and hadn't been taken out. Her hand brushed against something cold and seemingly metal and immediately she stopped what she was doing and began to gently pull the bottle towards her. On her way up, her hand brushed against another bottle, this one plastic. Her eyes lit up once again and she put her other hand in the bag, pulling out the other bottle along with the first. Once she had it out of the bag, she stared with wide eyes at the two bottles filled with clear liquid in her hands. On the label going around the first bottle it read in perfect handwritten, capital letters: SULFURIC ACID. On the second bottle, written more sloppily but still in legible letters: HEROINE. Being that she was probably the only kunoichi to ever be able to come up with something so complex, it came to no surprise that they hadn't removed these particular bottles from her bag. 

Tenten remembered wanting to have her own original technique instead of copying other weapon master's. So, she began to thing deeply on the manner and eventually her thoughts lead her to the topic of acids. Now, it was not uncommon knowledge that acids dissolved metals but it was also know that acids could be extremely dangerous to humans. So, her next order of business was to create a metal that would be able to neutralize the effects of the acid before it is transferred to another source...like human flesh. Spending every day in her family's forge, she melted and cooled different metals, mixing them and experimenting with the results using different strong acids. Deciding on an acid was easy; she picked the weakest of the strong acids, sulfuric acid. The hard part was coming up with a metal that would last longer than a few seconds during ionization. Finally, she succeeded. The mix was fairly simple: solid arsenic, barium, gold, silver, titanium, and tungsten. The color of the kunai and shuriken she made from the mix was absolutely retched but she ended up painting over the color with forest green paint, to blend in with the trees. Her opponent wouldn't stand a chance when struck with her forest green kunai…their insides would slowly begin to be dissolved, virtually ending any chance they had at life.

That was just the first step towards her beginnings. After exploring her idea with acids, she wanted to be able to be a smart kunoichi and have a back-up plan. So she decided to venture into the field of illegal drugs. Why she would want to work with something that was completely illegal was a mystery to her. Nonetheless, Tenten began her search for a back-up plan. Wanting to work with a drug that would slow down her opponents' heart breathing rate it wasn't hard for her to decide the field of drug she wanted to use. She decided on the opium family. Opium itself would work but it wasn't the best choice, so she drifted into the topic of morphine, a branch off of opium. She researched and discovered that morphine also wasn't the best she could do. Thus she discovered heroine, the most potent drug in the family of opium. Finding out exactly how to make heroine wasn't hard, there were a lot of drug addicts everywhere. In fact, the easiest part of making heroine was finding the main ingredient, poppy seeds. Eventually, she had five whole plastic bottles filled with pure heroine. When the highly addictive drug was placed onto her kunai and thrown at her opponent, hopefully getting the drug into their blood stream, it would almost immediately take affect and slowly slow down all of their body functions, rendering them almost completely useless in a fight. Also, if she were lucky they would become completely enraptured in the drug and their shinobi career would go down the drain. And, if she were extremely lucky the drug would completely take over her opponents' system and virtually kill them on the spot.

Smiling, she turned the metal bottle over in her hands and put it gently back at the bottom of her bag. Deciding it best to keep the heroine on her, she tucked the small plastic bottle into her pocket. Well, now she had a way out, if worse came to worse that it. Quickly grabbing a pair of new, fresh clothes from her bag and changing, she waited at the edge of the bed wishing that sometimes life didn't throw people together unexpectedly, in cases such as Hidan and herself. In the bathroom, she heard the shower water stop running and Hidan pull open the shower curtains and take a step out. Closing her bag and placing it back in the corner, she waited for him to come out of the bathroom and take her to breakfast.

* * *

Sakura slowly raised her hand and placed a hand on the reflection staring back at her in the mirror. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she stared at herself. Did she even know who she really was anymore? Last night, when Itachi had finally come back to the room, she had been sitting in the exact same spot he had left her. The plate that had had the rice he had gotten for her was empty, a sign that she had chosen to eat. All he did was shoot a glance at her before walking around the bed and laying down, turning over and falling asleep. Well, she thought he fell asleep. Soon, after she thought she was sure he was asleep, she began to cry. Silently, tears rolled down her cheeks and fell to the floor, making wet spots on the perfectly black carpet. After about five minutes into her little breakdown, she felt a hand on her back. Jumping slightly, she turned around ready to defend herself and found Itachi staring at her, his Sharingan blazing in the darkness. Slightly lowering her guard, she used her thumb to wipe away any excess tears on her cheeks and glared back at the stoic Uchiha. Itachi simply shook his head at her. 

"He will never love you the way you think he does…or the way you want him to," he said after a pause. Sakura lost her composure when she heard his voice, not expecting him to actually speak to her.

"Excuse me Itachi-san, but I truly have no idea what you're talking about," she said as politely as possible, not wanting to lose her life. Itachi removed his hand from her back and turned all the way around to completely face her.

"Sakura-san, you know perfectly well what I am talking about, do not deny the obvious things," he said in his usual emotionless manner. Sakura just stared at him incredulously, not able to believe that he could read her so well.

"Well then, if you know so much about my problems then why don't you do the crying for me?" She asked, getting angry. Itachi's impassive face glinted with anger for a moment before reverting back to his normal emotionless, poker face. Before she knew what was happening, he had her pinned to the bed, holding her wrists painfully above her head.

"You would do well to keep your wit to yourself, Sakura-san," he said in a low even tone, expressing no anger whatsoever but still managing to scare her silly. She weakly nodded her head, and he raised himself from her. She sat up once he was completely away from her body and began to rub her wrists; feeling bruises already forming there. After that, the conversation ended completely and they both lie down and fell asleep.

Now, here she stood staring at her reflection in the mirror, wondering what was happening to her. Last night, she had felt something when he was that close to her. Something completely different from the fright that was completely apparent. Now, she found herself wondering why someone would even want two people like Itachi and herself to ever even meet. Sometimes she wondered if she even understood the human race anymore. Boys only worried or thought about sex, while girls only worried of thought about looking sexy. It truly was almost stupid. She was definitely glad she left those days behind her when she was twelve. She supposed being a shinobi almost made you grow up earlier than you ever wanted or thought. Hearing a knock on the door, she said a quick excuse to Itachi, finished getting dressed, and ran out the bathroom door. Itachi looked down at her with his usual poker face and opened the bedroom door; allowing her passage first then following close after her.

Sakura paused outside the door, waiting for Itachi to take the lead since she had never been to the dining room. Itachi nodded at her as he passed her and continued walking, expecting her to follow. Keeping her right hand on the wall beside her, she trailed behind the sharingan master. They passed through what looked like a sitting room and took a right turn into another hallway almost identical to the one they had just left. At the end of the hallway, Itachi took a left turn into a large room that looked somewhat like a dining room. Sakura guessed that the people seated around the table was the Akatsuki and she quickly took notice of Tenten sitting next to the silver haired man that had broken her arm.

Taking notice of Tenten, she quickly began a search for her other friend, Ino. She quickly found that the blonde girl was not in the room, but four seats were left open at the table, a sign that Ino must be there with a member of the deadly group also. Telling herself that they were just late, she followed Itachi to the head of the table. She watched him sit down and took a seat in the empty chair to his right, sitting across from a blue skinned, shark-like man. Noticing her stare, Kisame reached a hand over the table and waited for her to grab his and shake it.

"I'm Hoshigaki Kisame," he said in a gruff voice, telling her that he was irritated with her staring. She took his hand and shook it, taking notice of the scale-like rubber feeling of his skin.

"I am Haruno Sakura, Kisame-san," she said politely, releasing the handshake. He quickly retracted his hand and sat leaned back in his chair, just listening to the conversations the other were having.

"Panda snored half the night, kept me awake damnit!"

"I did not! You're just saying that because you want to be a prick!"

"Hey! Hold your tongue, wench, do you want to relive last night?"

"N-no sorry…"

"Sounds like whatever you did last night got the girl in line, Hidan."

"You stay out of it Kakuzu!"

"What did you do last night?"

"You stay out of it too, you weird ass bastard!"

Sakura giggled at the progressing conversation between the other members of the Akatsuki. Apparently Kisame and Itachi were the only sane members of this organization. Though, she was also curious as to what Tenten and Hidan did the night before. Just as she was about you add her input into the debate, the door at the back of the room came open and in walked Ino and the blonde man she had seen with her before back in the prison cell. Ino had a bowl in her hands while the man had a plate of something. They set the bowl and plate onto the table and took their seats. As soon as they were seated the man's head fell to the table.

"You must be Sakura, I'm Deidara," he said in a low jumbled voice from his seat to the right of her, expressing his exhaustion. He looked like a mess, his hair was lazily thrown into his traditional ponytail but he had serious frizz going on in his bangs. She smiled at him and he sort of smiled back, then he turned his head so that his forehead was on the table.

"Well everyone, this is a traditional western style breakfast! Bacon and eggs!" Ino stated happily from her seat to the right of Deidara. Everyone quickly began to pass the food around, all of them taking helpings for themselves. For a whole ten minutes everything was silent, the only sound being chopsticks scraping against plates. The silence was eventually broken by Ino.

"Well, it's nice to see you up and about, Billboard Brow," she said, turning away from her food and glancing at Sakura. Sakura cringed at the childhood nickname and turned to answer but before she could even speak a voice cut her off.

"Would you please take your voice down a few notches, it's six in the morning, un!" Deidara said with his head leaning on his right hand, which was propped on the table. Ino simply glared daggers at him.

"Well, you seem to be the only one complaining about not getting enough sleep! What'd you do all night, masturbate with those mouths on your palms?" She said rudely, taking out her anger in words. At the comment, Hidan, Tobi, and Kisame began to laugh. Deidara looked somewhat angered but then it quickly disappeared and was replaced by a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Well, Ino-chan, you weren't complaining too much about my hands last night, un," he said playfully. Ino immediately began to blush and punched him in the arm.

"Yeah right, in your dreams!" She said vehemently. By this time, everyone in the room had begun to laugh sans Itachi. Tenten turned to Hidan; surprised he hadn't said something to be a smart ass.

"Oh! So Ino likes it too? I thought Panda was the only one that liked to be sexually intimate with S-class criminals," Hidan said turning the fun on Tenten.

"Really, Tenten-chan, do tell?" Tobi asked curiously. Tenten looked floored in her seat, a dark red blush staining her cheeks.

"Uh…I-I have n-no idea w-what he's t-talking a-about," Tenten said shakily.

"Oh, Panda, it's not good to lie. She kissed me last night," Hidan said, sounding like a prick.

"Oh, so now I kissed you!" Tenten said, finding her courage again. Everyone (except Itachi) immediately went wide-eyed and stared at her.

"Wait…so…you guys actually…did kiss?" Ino asked her friend slowly. Tenten looked down to the table and nodded sadly.

"Well, that was unexpected, un," Deidara said and with that everyone dropped the subject and finished their food. Sometimes, Tenten wished that Hidan could just stop being so…Hidan-like.

* * *

**A/N: Well…there's the sucky chapter that I promised you guys. It's really not all that long…only eight pages on Word. Well, like I said before, tell me what you think about me starting a new story. Review…please? I need it…Signing out, Starchii.**


	6. Drowning

**A/N: Well, hello. I'm back. This chapter isn't as late as the last one but it is still quite late-ish. It's hard to get chapters up now that summer has started and all of my friends (and boyfriend) are ripping my arms and legs off trying to get me to hang out with them. It's kind of hard to juggle them and this story so, don't be surprised if I don't pump out chapters as fast as I used to. Also, my beta reader is on vacation right now so these chapters might be pretty bad since I'm normally too lazy to proofread. Also, I seriously want to know if you want me to write the story I had in mind last chapter. Keep in mind that I wouldn't start it until after this one was finished because I truly do want to finish this for all of you!!**

**-Looks at the 59 reviews with wide eyes and a party hate on her head- Yay! I love all of you guys, thank you all so much!**

**I dedicate this chapter to Muu, for being a great beta even if she is gone, Mike, for being the best friend I could ever ask for, Dave, for being a great boyfriend…sometimes, and FreeFallJumper, for the awesome review and agreeing to become my new best friend, haha.**

**Inspiration Music: Earthquake by The Used, Paralyzed by The Used (for Tenten and Hidan), Darkness by Disturbed (also for Hidan and Tenten), My World by SR-71 (for Ino and Deidara), and Until The Day I Die by Story of the Year (for Sakura)**

**Disclaimer: I do not and never will own Naruto because it is too almighty to be held in the hands of a lowly freak like me. So I'll just mess around with the characters!!**

* * *

_Chapter 7: Drowning_

"I have something I need to tell you guys," said Tenten in a hurried whisper. Sakura and Ino looked at her strangely but let her continue to speak without interruption. At the moment, the three of them were in the Akatsuki common room sitting on the couch. The three kunoichi were alone with only one exception: the tall, silver-haired, religious man sitting under the doorway polishing his scythe. Deidara, Itachi, Kisame, Kakuzu, and Tobi had gone to see the Leader to talk to him about the girls. Of course, they needed a guard even though they all had necklaces that basically restricted wherever they went. Hidan had immediately volunteered for the position since he hated even hearing the Leader's voice. So now, here they all were discussing things in whispers and waiting for the others to return.

"I found some things in my bag that we might be able to use to escape," she said in an urgent whisper. Immediately, Sakura and Ino's eyes widened in disbelief.

"What do you mean? They took all the deadly stuff out, didn't they?" Ino asked incredulously, copying Tenten and speaking in whispers.

"Yeah, what do you still have in your bag that would even remotely give us a chance at escape?" Sakura asked in a disbelieving whisper. Tenten leaned closer to them and motioned for them to do the same. Making sure Hidan still had his focus on his scythe; they all leaned into a huddle.

"Well, I don't have any of my weapons left but what they kept in my bag is almost as good as that," Tenten said. For a moment she leaned out of the huddle to check on Hidan, but soon she leaned back in and rummaged in her pocket for something. When she found what she wanted, she pulled out the plastic bottle of Heroine. Ino and Sakura knew about Tenten's genius ideas involving her beloved Heroine and Sulfuric Acid so seeing this particular bottle they were both shocked. "It's not only this one, they left the acid in there too. I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with these or how they are going to help in getting us out of here but I thought if I supplied the materials you guys could supply the plan."

"Well, we could always take the easy route and just slip some heroine into the food when they weren't looking," Ino said her mind just beginning to recover from the initial shock. Sakura shook her head at the idea.

"No, that would never work, the Akatsuki are definitely not that stupid, they'd never fall for a trick like that, they practically know every dirty trick you could ever play," Sakura said matter-of-factly.

"I agree. If we're going to pull this off, we are going to have to come up with an elaborate, genius plan. Something that even Uchiha Itachi wouldn't even be able to see underneath. Something that Shikamaru wouldn't even begin to think of. It has to be the best thing we've ever had to think of in our life…the perfect assassination," Tenten said in a serious tone.

"Well, I'm not really worried about killing them at this point, I just really want to get out of this place," Ino said, slightly thrown off-guard by Tenten's sudden morbidity.

"Yeah Tenten, calm down," Sakura added, getting concerned for her weapon-loving friend.

"Look you guys, you don't have to kill Itachi or Deidara but I don't want to leave this place until that religious bastard is dead. I don't know what he does to me…but every time I'm around him I want to be bad, I don't want to grow up and marry Hyuuga Neji and become Hyuuga Tenten, I want to grow up without a plan, without knowing what's going to happen next. He sickens me, he disgusts me, I want to beat his face in, feel his nose smash under my fist…but only when he's not there…" she said turning her eyes to the floor. Sakura flinched back in shock while Ino leaned closer to Tenten and pulled her into a hug.

"Tenten…I know how you feel…I think I'm in the same boat…" she whispered reassuringly into Tenten's ear.

"No, Ino…our boat has capsized and we're drowning, being pulled deeper by the undertow," Tenten whispered back. Ino unwrapped herself from Tenten and looked at her square in the eye.

"You guys, I can feel their chakra signatures returning. We should probably just end this discussion now while we all have our sanity in tact," Sakura said before Ino even opened her mouth. Just after she finished speaking the rest of the group filed into the room. Tobi, Kakuzu, and Kisame continued to walk heading for the part of the building designated as the living quarters. Itachi and Deidara stood next to Hidan. Itachi looked emotionless, Deidara had a big grin, and Hidan had a sadistic grin. Something was up.

"Today's your lucky day! You get to meet the Leader-sama, un," Deidara said sarcastically. The three of them immediately became nervous with this piece of news.

"We leave now," Itachi said, turning around and beginning to walk expecting the rest to follow. Sakura did immediately, becoming used to the way he did things. Soon after the other four began to follow after them but not without complaints from a certain potty-mouthed religious man.

"Fucking arrogant bastard," Hidan mumbled as he walked next to Tenten. She turned to him with wide eyes.

"What if he heard you," she whispered aggressively.

"Eh, he probably did, but the bastard never did give a shit about what the hell I said about him. Apparently I'm not worth his precious time," he said in response, "Besides, when the hell did you start giving two shits about what happens to me, huh Panda?" He turned to her with a smirk. Tenten began to blush but almost successfully covered it up and glared at him.

"I don't, I was hoping that he would hear you and then somehow kill you," she said with venom. He just smirked and turned his head back to where they were going. By this time, they had left the building and were heading towards another building that appeared to be some sort of a one-roomed cottage. Ino narrowed her eyes and pulled on the sleeve of Deidara's cloak. He moved his eyes to look at her, letting her know she had his attention.

"What's going to happen to us?" She asked in a whisper, her eyes wide and sparkling with fear. Deidara looked shocked then began to chuckle. He shook his head at her.

"Don't worry Ino-chan, he's not going to kill you. He can't right now anyways, it's not like we're actually going to see him in person," he said with mirth. Ino looked shocked for a moment then her features contorted in confusion.

"What do you mean we're not actually going to see him in person?" She asked with confusion lacing her voice.

"Well, the Leader-sama doesn't like to be seen in person, so when he gives us our missions he uses the Body Projection Technique, which gives us an image of his body that he can use to talk to us and we can talk to it…Somehow he hears what we say and it's like having a conversation with an actor in a movie or something…really weird, un," he said matter-of-factly. Ino listened intently to his description of the technique and began to understand more how it was he never saw them in person. Noticing they were almost halfway there, she glanced up ahead at the bodies of Sakura and Itachi. Ino noticed that neither of them was talking while she had already had a conversation with Deidara and she heard Hidan and Tenten already get into an argument. She felt almost bad for Sakura…at least Hidan and Deidara attempted to make contact with Tenten and herself.

Sakura walked next to Itachi but kept a far enough distance to make sure he knew she wasn't being clingy or weak. She looked over to him and couldn't help but stare at the grace with which he was able to walk. Itachi must of felt her eyes on him because he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and immediately she turned her head away to make it seem like she wasn't staring. Her face was on fire from the deep red blush staining her cheeks from getting caught in the act of staring at her love's older brother.

"You should not stare, it's rude," she heard Itachi say from next to her. Sakura's eyes widened and she flipped her head over to him, her face still flaming red.

"G-Gomen, Itachi-san, you are right that was very rude of me," she said, directing her eyes to the ground. He didn't reply but really she wasn't expecting him to. She could just imagine that situation playing out with her friends and their captors in her and Itachi's positions.

She imagined Ino and Deidara's going something like this: Ino walked next to Deidara, close enough to let him know she was there but far enough away to show everybody else they were only acquaintances. She looked over at him and couldn't help but stare at the way he looked almost exactly like her. Deidara must have felt eyes on him because he turned his head and looked at her. She just continued to look at him as if challenging him.

"Y'know, Ino-chan, it's really rude to stare. Didn't your mother teach you any manners?" Deidara finally said after several moments of the staring contest.

"Oh yeah! Well you were just staring at me too so I don't have to be sorry!" Ino said with anger.

"It's all right, I know you like staring at me so I guess I'll let it go for now," he said cheekily.

Sakura giggled slightly at the thought then continued on with the same situation but with Hidan and Tenten. It would probably go something like this: Tenten walked next to Hidan, but as far away as possible with her head turned away from him. She chanced a look at him to see if he also was being stubborn and avoiding her at all costs but instead she found that he was staring at her with a smirk on his face. She widened her eyes with shock and blushed.

"Oh don't take it so personally Panda, I was only looking at you imagining different ways I could kill you once we're out of this mess," Hidan said while continuing to look at her.

"A-ah, I see, I should have guessed," she said sounding almost disappointed. Hidan laughed at her and wiped some sweat off of his brow. Tenten began to get aggravated and placed her hands on her hips in agitation.

"What is so funny?" She asked with anger lacing her words.

"You! You're so fucking retarded!" He laughed as they continued to walk.

Sakura let out a full-blown laugh at that situation. Just imagining Tenten's face when Hidan called her retarded was priceless. Itachi once again looked at her, wondering silently what she was laughing about.

"Have you gone insane or is there something funny about a particular piece of dirt, Sakura-san?" He questioned once her giggling had subsided. Sakura looked at him slightly shocked with his question while blushing from embarrassment.

"Um, no Itachi-san, I was laughing at a thought I had," she said uncertainly. Again he didn't reply and again she wasn't expecting him to. Now, they were standing in front of the door that led inside the small cottage.

"The Leader-sama wishes for us to enter in pairs, so me and Sakura-san will go first. Deidara, you and Hidan can argue over who goes in next," Itachi said as he opened the door leading into the cottage. He let Sakura pass inside before following and closing the door behind them. The only thing that Ino and Tenten were able to catch before the door closed fully was a deep, male voice saying, "So you're the famed medic apprentice, Haruno Sakura."

"Uh, Deidara, why does he want us to go in by pairs?" Ino asked curiously.

"Because he's used to debriefing us in pairs. The entire Akatsuki rarely ever comes together before the Leader-sama unless something…special is going on. Hey, asshole, you and Tenten can go in next. Ino-chan and I will take the honor of going last, un," he said while smirking at Ino.

"Yeah, yeah, smart thinking you blonde haired bastard, I want to get this fucking meeting over with so I don't have to hear that bastard's voice for too long," Hidan said while gritting his teeth in aggravation.

Itachi and Sakura were inside the cottage for at least ten minutes and Ino was getting impatient having to wait outside. None of them were talking, perhaps because Ino and Tenten were too nervous to converse while Hidan was too big of a jerk to talk to anyone but Deidara's silence was almost unsettling. Ino sighed and looked up at the sky, just now noticing how beautiful the day was, probably because she was too nervous to do much while they were walking. Taking a deep breath, she savored the feeling of the fresh air filling her lungs. She had missed that when she was cooped up inside the Akatsuki Headquarters for Kami knows how long. Suddenly, the door to the cottage opened and Sakura stepped out followed closely by Itachi. Sakura had a red box in her hands and she looked almost solemn, but Ino let it go, at least she was still alive. Deidara hadn't been lying at least.

Hidan sighed heavily and stood, beckoning for Tenten to follow him. Quickly, she stood and followed him inside the building. Ino smiled at Tenten and waved to her before settling back against the wall of the cottage. Deidara turned to her then.

"I had a dream about you last night, un," he said surprisingly serious. Ino narrowed her eyes in confusion.

"Oh yeah, what about?" She asked, hoping he wasn't going to be perverted.

"Well, it was more of a flashback than a dream. It was about the first time I met you, un," he said as he leaned against the wall next to her.

"You mean back in the dungeon? I don't know if I want to remember that," she said as a chill ran down her spine from the memory of the dungeon.

"No, not then. I think I met you before that, you were probably still in the Academy and I know for a fact that you had a crush on Itachi's little brother Sasuke, un," he said as he closed his eyes in thought. Ino widened her eyes in shock, still not remembering meeting him before. "Ino-chan, look at my hitae-ite, it has the Iwagakure symbol. Do you remember meeting anyone from Iwa and talking to him about your problem with Sakura, un?"

Ino thought for a moment trying to remember back to her Academy days. Then the memory hit her. It had been a normal day when she was ten, two years before she graduated and she and Sakura had gotten into an argument about Sasuke. While chasing after her, she got exhausted and had to stop. Soon, she saw a shinobi just standing in the middle of the road so she assumed he had seen her rival. Walking over to him, she asked him about it and he had seemed confused at first but then began to reply when Sakura cut in and Ino had taken off after her. That had been Deidara!

"That was you? I never knew your name…so I didn't know," Ino said as her face relaxed.

"Well, I only brought it up because I wanted to tell you thanks for the compliment, un," he said as he opened his eyes and smirked at her. Ino looked at him strangely for a moment.

"_Oh yeah! Well, you're just jealous because I just talked to a really cute older boy!"_

Ino blushed at her comment, feeling foolish and immature. "Um, no problem," she said uncertainly. Deidara chuckled and fell silent. The two of them shared a few awkward moments of silence only broken by the cottage door once again opening. Hidan stepped out and stretched his back followed by an almost mortified looking Tenten, who was carrying a silver box in her hands identical in shape and size to Sakura's box. Ino gulped audibly and watched Tenten walk back with Hidan towards the Headquarters.

Deidara smiled reassuringly at Ino and held the door open while she walked in. She looked behind her to make sure Deidara was following her and turned back when she saw him close the door behind him. They walked forward a few paces and Deidara stopped just before a pillow on the ground. Ino followed suit and just now realized there were two more pillows right behind her and Deidara. This was some sort of meeting room. Suddenly, in front of them a figure materialized. All she could make out about the shadowy projection was that it was a male and had spiky hair. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Deidara bow in respect, so Ino followed suit not wanting to lose her life. Soon, Ino and Deidara stood and sat on the pillows provided for them as did the Leader.

"Ah, well then I've already met the healer and the weapons mistress so you must be the mind dweller, Yamanaka Ino," said the Leader in the same deep commanding tone she had heard him use on Sakura before.

"H-Hai, Leader-sama," she said respectfully.

"A more confident reply than Tenten-san but more lacking than Haruno-san. You stuttered your yes but you came back with the sama showing me that you fear me and respect me," he said to her his tone never wavering. Ino held in any response she had and kept her facial features in a straight poker face waiting for him to continue. "Deidara, please go and fetch that box over there."

"Hai," Deidara said as he stood and grabbed the blue box on the floor next to the right wall. Quickly, he set it down and placed it in front of the Leader and retook his seat.

"Now, Yamanaka-san please take the box and open it," he said in a commanding tone, holding no room for argument.

"Hai," she said controlling her stutter and slid the box over to her. When the box was in front of her, she took the lid off and peered inside. She saw some sort of garment and there was a ring placed neatly on top of the garment. Letting her façade slip for a moment, she looked at the box in confusion.

"While you are staying with us in the Akatsuki Headquarters, you are to wear our full uniform, the cloak, the polish, the hat when you are out on missions, and the ring. That ring is an exact replica of Deidara's fitted to fit around your finger. The ring allows me to connect with you telepathically while you are on missions and it also lets me know where you are at all times, like the necklace allows Deidara to know where you are. Now, understand that at the time being you are Tobi and Deidara's new teammate, so you will listen to whatever they have to say with no complaints unless I tell you directly to go against what they are saying. Do you understand, Yamanaka-san?" He explained to her in way that sounded practiced.

"I understand Leader-sama. I have a question," she said after a pause.

"Proceed, Yamanaka-san," he commanded.

"Well, why are you doing this? I mean, what is your motive in kidnapping us?" She asked as politely as possible.

"Well, Yamanaka-san, you are merely a hostage so we can get what we want," he said. Ino's eyebrows scrunched together, he didn't tell her much just the basics…but the basics could always hold a loophole. All she did was nod; there was no way she was going to get more out of him. Ino chanced a glance at Deidara and found that he was looking at her with sad eyes. She smiled at him trying to reassure him that she was okay. "It appears your relationship with each other is progressing better than the others," the Leader said to them. They both turned their attention back to him.

"I suppose Leader-sama," Deidara said. Ino then noticed that he dropped his traditional un when he talked to the Leader.

"That's good, that means that you two can be my guinea pigs for the missions. Report to me tomorrow morning directly after breakfast with Tobi. You are both dismissed," the Leader said and his projection disappeared. Ino looked over at Deidara and found he was standing and had a hand reached down towards her. She quickly picked up the small blue box and grabbed his hand and stood.

They walked slowly towards the door together, Deidara opened it for Ino and she exited followed by him. She looked down at the box and sighed, feeling like what Sakura looked when she exited. Slowly she began to walk forward back towards the Headquarters. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. The hand gently turned her around and pulled her against its body. She looked up and found that Deidara was hugging her.

"D-Deidara…w-what are you doing?" She asked, feeling a blush stain her cheeks.

"Don't worry, Ino-chan, I'll try to at least be tolerable while we're on missions," he said softly into her ear. His breath sent a shiver down her spine, just like it always did.

"Uh, thanks…Deidara…kun," she said uncertainly. He pulled her back for a second and smiled before pulling her into a tighter one-armed hug.

"No problem Ino-chan, I'll even try to make Tobi less annoying, un," he said returning to his former mannerisms. Ino smiled and wrapped her arms around him in return.

"Deidara-kun, thanks for being so nice to me…" She said happily.

"Again no problem, I don't have stick up my ass like Itachi and I'm not a sadistic bastard like Hidan…it really is no problem, un," he said with a smirk. After a few more moments they unwrapped from each other and continued on into the building.

"Hey, Deidara-kun? Why did you stop saying un when you were talking to the Leader?" She asked him curiously.

"You noticed that?" He asked sheepishly. She nodded in reply and he shrugged his shoulders. "Well, the Leader really doesn't like when I say it…so he threatened me and said if I didn't stop he'd kill me…so needless to say I stopped but only when I'm in front of him, un," he said. She giggled and they walked into the Headquarters. So maybe Tenten and Ino were drowning. Ino didn't know about Tenten, but the euphoria before the death was something she would never forget.

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**A/N: Well folks from here on out, get ready for a bumpy ride. This is going to get pretty strange now, so be prepared. Thanks again for all the awesome reviews from the last chapter they made my day, seriously. Please leave your thoughts on this one too! Thank you, and goodnight! Musically yours, Starchii.**

_P.S: If you guys can figure out what's going to happen next I'll personally send you an excerpt from the next chapter!!_


	7. Every Rose May Still Draw Blood

**A/N: Yo! I'm back with a new chapter…I started this one earlier than the other two, which is good…I think. Nobody guessed what would happen in this chapter so no one received a preview to this chapter…sorry! I really did want to give away one. So now, at the end of this chapter, I'm going to have another contest type thing. Yay! I'm happy I hope you are too. To tell you the truth this chapter is hardly worked out in my head yet but I do have the basics, so enjoy!**

**This chapter is dedicated to Muu, for still being an awesome beta even if she isn't here, Mike and Kyle, even though they don't read this story they push me to update, Dave, for not having one clue as to what Naruto even is but still being a great boyfriend, JenKonoha, because it was your review that pushed me to update (Go you!), and Cute-killer-Gurl, for single handedly making my day by adding me to your authors favorite list.**

**Inspiration Music: Someone Else's Arms by Mae (for Tenten and Hidan), Roses and Butterflies by Making April (I don't care who this is for it's a damn good song!), I'll Be Careful, You'll Be Dead by My Former Self (for Deidara and Ino), Don't Stop Believing by Journey (for everyone!), Superman by Lazlo Bane (for Sakura…does anyone notice that she always has songs dedicated to just her?), and Pretty Handsome Awkward (for Ino…take that Sakura!).**

**Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Naruto because I am a sad excuse for a human being and would much rather be writing this than making an awesome series that people would make fanfictions for.**

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_Chapter 8: Every Rose May Still Draw Blood_

The dinner table was unusually quiet that evening. From left to right: Itachi was busy quietly consuming his food, just being Itachi. Kisame was staring at everyone else trying to think of something to say to break the silence. Sakura was staring at her untouched dinner, looking almost pitiful. Kakuzu was doing the same thing as Itachi and enjoying the silence. Deidara was doing the same thing as Kisame but instead of staring at everyone he was staring at Ino. Hidan was noisily slurping up his food, surprisingly not being a jerk. Ino was picking at her food, leaning away from Deidara and not noticing his stare. Tenten was sitting with her arms folded on her lap and was biting her lip…and Tobi…well…Tobi was…

"Guys! I'm sorry I'm late for dinner but I was being a good boy and helping Zetsu-san with something before he had to go back out and do a reconnaissance mission or something like that." Well, Tobi didn't get there until just then, why else do you think it was so quiet? Everyone chose to ignore him except his teammates. One turned and glared at him, while the other giggled at his entrance.

"Tobi, you're an idiot. Now come here and sit down, un," Deidara said in annoyance as he turned back to his food and finally began eating. Tobi turned to him and nodded enthusiastically and ran over to his seat next to Ino.

"Yay! I get to sit next to Ino-chan again! I love spending time with Ino-chan!" He said as he plopped down in his seat and immediately began scooping food onto his plate.

"Well, Tobi, we get to spend a lot of time together now, since I'm your new teammate," Ino said with a smile as she took a bite of her ramen. Tobi turned to her slowly; she suspected under his mask he had very large eyes.

"You mean, Ino-chan is my new teammate and Deidara-sempai can stop being mean to me because I don't have to go on missions with him anymore?" Tobi asked, speaking very quickly. Ino giggled at the question but shook her head.

"No, you, me and Deidara-kun are all teammates now," she said with a smile. Tobi's body slumped in disappointment but he quickly shook it off and perked back up.

"Oh well! I still get to spend some time with Ino-chan!" Tobi said and turned back to his food. Ino turned away, curious as to how he ate with a mask on but let it drop.

"You know, you really shouldn't do that to the poor retard, un," Deidara whispered into her ear. She smirked and turned to him.

"You're just jealous I didn't get that happy when I found out I was going to be your partner," she said with a malicious smirk on her face. Deidara glared at her but soon a smirk found a place on his face also. As he opened his mouth to retort back to her, Itachi spoke from the end of the table.

"I suggest you all get training in with your new teammates if you want to perform your best on the mission," he said unemotionally. Everyone at the table turned to him, and simultaneously nodded. Him speaking seemed to snap everyone out of whatever stupor they had been in and they quickly finished their food. Dispersing in teams, Sakura, Itachi, and Kisame left the room first. When they exited the room they began to walk towards the exit of the building.

"Excuse me, Kisame-san, where are we going exactly?" Sakura asked, choosing to ask her more relaxed teammate.

"Well, we're doing what Itachi suggested we do, we're training," Kisame said gruffly, swinging his sword over his shoulder as they walked out of the front entrance. The three grabbed their cloaks as they passed by the rack where all of the members kept them.

"So, what will this training consist of?" She asked while slipping her arms into her cloak and walking next to Kisame.

"You shall spar with Kisame so we can get a read of your abilities and then work from there," Itachi said from the front of the group. Sakura looked over at Kisame with wide eyes and found him staring down at her with a sadistic smirk.

"Finally some training I can enjoy," Kisame said as they walked further away from the Headquarters. Sakura moved her eyes back to where she was going and walked a little behind the group from then until they reached their destination.

The training ground they were at was like any other place Sakura had trained at in Konoha. It was a small clearing surrounded by trees with a small creek off on the side for suitable water Justus. The trio stopped in the middle of the area, Kisame and Sakura stripped of their cloaks for better moving and handed them to Itachi to hold on to. Itachi walked over to the side of the clearing away from the stream so he could watch but stay out of the way. Kisame and Sakura walked to opposite ends and faced each other, readying for the spar.

"Alright, Kisame, you are restricted to using your sword and Taijutsu only. Sakura-san, you can use whatever you have in order to attempt to defeat Kisame," Itachi said from his place on the sidelines. Kisame nodded but Sakura turned to look at him, her face contorted in anger.

"Why are you handicapping Kisame-san, Itachi-san?" She asked as politely as possible.

"Sakura-san, I know perfectly well my partner's abilities and we are trying to learn yours, that is why I am only allowing him to perform moves you can combat against. I want to learn how you move on the battlefield and what your strengths and weaknesses are," Itachi said with his usual poker face on. Sakura sighed in defeat but nodded and turned back to her opponent. Looking at him, she started to think this wasn't such a good idea…he was going to crush her.

"Whenever you are ready, Sakura-san," Itachi said as he took a seat in the grass.

Sakura steeled her resolve and narrowed her eyes at Kisame, preparing her body for anything he would throw at her. Kisame only stood there casually with his hand on the hilt of his overly large sword, not moving a muscle. Sighing, Sakura realized he wasn't going to make the first move no matter what. Deciding to start off with a direct approach, she took off running towards him, kicking up dirt behind her. When she was three quarters of the way there she raised her right fist and aimed it for his midsection. Just as her fist was about to connect he disappeared and she diverted her punch to the ground. The once solid ground shook from the force and broke into pieces. Hearing irregular wind patterns behind her, she ducked just in time to avoid getting her head chopped off from Kisame's massive sword. Using her bent legs as an advantage, she sprung up at him again attempting to punch him. Not expecting her to recover that quickly, Kisame was caught off guard and was slammed square in the face and sent flying back a few meters.

"Damnit! You pack a mean right hook! That hurt, you're going to pay for that one!" He cursed as he stood up. She prepared for him again. Again, he disappeared from her view. Sensing his chakra behind her again, she turned around and quickly threw her arms up in a form of a block to avoid the punches he was throwing at her. Apparently, he had decided to ditch the sword and fight with his fists. Suddenly, he sent his right foot up in a kick. Instinctively, she grabbed his foot to stop it. Sakura looked back up at him and saw him smirking. Realizing her mistake too late, she took the hit from the blunt edge of his sword full on. It sent her body flying across the clearing and into the small creek. Not expecting it, she didn't have time to ready her chakra and she fell into the cold water. The entirety of the left side of her body ached but she still found the strength to swim to the surface and stand shakily on the waters surface. Immediately, she was rushed again by Kisame, this time with hasty sword slashes all of them attempting to slice her midsection in half.

"You're going to cut me in half, Kisame!" She yelled getting worried for her life.

"Oh don't worry, my sword doesn't cut, it shaves…much more painful," he said with a sadistic smirk. Sakura's eyes widened in shock and she tried harder to keep away from the edge of his blade. She gracefully swerved away from the blade, backing away from it and towards the shore. Continuing her backwards peddle, just as the sword passed in front of her midriff she flipped her body backwards and did a backhand spring onto the grass so she didn't have to waste chakra keeping herself on the surface of the water.

Keeping away from him, she leaped back into a tree and hid herself on a branch and watched him run towards the trees in search of her. Slowly, she pulled several kunai from the holster around her leg (the holster is courtesy of Itachi, they took hers away at the beginning of the story) and aimed them at the blue man. Taking care to take in his movements, she launched them towards him. He easily blocked the knives with his sword but wasn't ready for the shuriken coming towards him and received several cuts on his arms and hands. Cursing loudly, he looked up at the treetop where he assumed she was and bashed it with his fist. Suddenly, he felt her chakra coming out of the tree behind him. He flipped around and saw her coming down at him in a flying kick. Smirking, he grabbed her ankle painfully and swung her body around once before throwing her back out into the clearing.

Sakura skidded to a stop in the middle of the clearing on her back and coughed up several droplets of blood. Propping herself onto her elbows, she saw Kisame coming at her quickly. Her eyes widened in shock and she readied herself for the blow but it never came. Instead, he placed the tip of his massive blade under her chin and tilted it up at him.

"You lose, kunoichi," he said gruffly, "But damn you put up a fight." Kisame held down a hand to help her up. Staring at the hand for a moment, she smirked and grabbed it, standing up. When she was standing, she brushed the dirt off of her legs and waist and immediately began to do a medical check on her body. Finding only bruises and cuts, she ignored them for the moment and waited for Itachi to come over to them.

Itachi stood when he saw Kisame help the girl up and walked over to them. He stopped next to Kisame and looked at Sakura with his Sharingan.

"The fight was good, but Sakura, you could have used Jutsus or Genjutsu to protect yourself. Why did you not?" Itachi asked unemotionally.

"Well, I figured it wasn't fair since Kisame couldn't use it so I played fair. I only used weapons and Taijutsu," she said matter-of-factly. Itachi simply stared at her for another moment longer before beginning to walk away from the duo. They looked at each other and ran to catch up with him.

"We have to work on your speed, Sakura-san, so that is where we will start," Itachi said when they finally caught up to him. He handed them back their cloaks, and continued to walk away from the clearing.

* * *

Tenten sighed and flopped back on the bed. Her body ached but at least she wasn't dirty anymore, the long, hot shower she took made sure of that. The team had decided to do what Itachi suggested and trained. When they had arrived at the small clearing where apparently Hidan and Kakuzu trained, she was met with the surprise that she was going to have to fight Hidan. Kakuzu had even given her scroll back and she had all her weapons, but five minutes later she still found herself on the ground panting for air with bruises and cuts all over her body.

Currently, Hidan was in the shower so she decided to take advantage of the full bed and sprawl in the middle of it. Closing her eyes, she started thinking about Konoha and her real team back there. No matter how annoying Lee got, he was still one of the best friends she had ever had. Always there for her when she wanted to talk or train and then there was Gai-sensei. He could be even more of an eyesore than Lee and even more annoying, if that was even possible. But like Lee, he had his moments where she just wanted to hug him and thank him for everything he'd done for her. Then…then there was Neji. Perfect Hyuuga Neji. Everything she ever wanted wrapped up in one perfect guy. He had possibly done the most for her out of anyone on the team. Neji was always her sparring partner and the more she sparred with him the more she pushed herself to keep up with his abilities. Eventually, she was able to fight on par with him even though every day he seemed to jump up a notch in ability. That also meant that Tenten was getting better with every match they fought…but now…now he seemed not even a challenge compared to Hidan. Hidan fought harder and more brutal than any other ninja she had ever sparred with. Maybe…it was time she found someone new to test her limits on the battlefield.

"Oi! What the hell do you think you're doing, Panda?" Hidan asked from beside the bed with his hands on his hips. Snapping out of her thoughts quickly, she turned to him and smiled.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about stuff," she said as she moved to her side of the bed and pulled the blankets down.

"Whatever, I don't really give a damn what you were doing," he said as he crawled under the blankets and turned off the lamp on the bed stand next to him. The room was immediately swallowed in darkness. Tenten turned onto her left side and a pleasant sent wafted into her nostrils.

"Hidan?" She asked.

"Hm?" He asked with mild irritation, his back turned to her.

"You smell really nice," she said with a smile playing on her lips.

"Uh, thanks, Panda, you do…too," he said uncertainly as he turned over to face her. "Now I have just one question."

"Yes?" she asked quietly.

"What the fuck?" He asked as he stared at her face in the darkness.

"I don't really know," she said as she opened her eyes and stared at him too. Something in Hidan's eyes seemed to waiver for a moment before returning back to their usual cold violet.

"Tenten?" He asked, for once using her real name and not his nickname.

"Hm?" She asked, slightly scared that he used her name.

"You're a freak," he said as he moved his body closer to hers. As he got closer to her…she thought she would only be hearing one name ringing throughout her mind but instead she heard the only thing she wasn't expecting to hear resounding through her skull…Hidan. Tenten tried to think about Neji and tell herself that she didn't want the man in front of her…but only one thing came to mind when she tried to deny it.

_'Yes you do…you really do.'_ That thought came to the front of her mind and stayed there as her body began to move in accordance to that thought. She found herself moving closer to him too.

"Thanks Hidan…you are too," she said when the two were close enough that their noses touched and their breaths mingled. She saw him smirk as he placed his forehead against hers. In the darkness, she began to blush at their proximity, like she always did.

"Jashin-sama seems to be irregularly quiet right now," he said as he raised a hand and placed it on her cheek.

"U-Uh…Hidan…what are you doing?" She asked shakily when she felt his calloused hand land on her face gently.

"What you want me to," he said simply as he placed his hand on the back of her head and pushed it gently towards him. She gulped audibly as the space between them was closed and his lips met hers. For a moment, all she could do was lay there with her eyes wide in shock but soon she found herself relaxing into the kiss. It was just like the first one that she had shared with him, but this one seemed to have less falseness behind it…it almost felt right. Soon, she felt his tongue slid onto her lips, asking for entrance. She almost immediately complied. As soon as she opened her mouth to allow him entrance, he deepened the kiss into something she almost couldn't follow but hell did she try. Their tongues connected and explored one another's mouths while she moved the arm she wasn't lying on top of to his shoulder and began playing with his hair. She groaned into his mouth and again she found him smirking against her lips. Was this another game? Did he trick her again? Not being able to take the uncertainty, she pulled back.

"H-Hidan…are you playing another game with me?" She asked as she sat up in the bed and looked away from him.

"Panda…look at me," she heard him say from beside her, apparently he had also sat up. She turned her head slowly and looked at him. He sat right next to her, their hips touching, with a blank expression on his face. What really caught her attention were his eyes, they were the same as they always were but in them there was something else…something Tenten couldn't identify. It almost scared her.

"H-Hidan?" She asked shakily. Hidan sighed but looked at her with a questioning gaze, letting her know she had his attention. "You're looking at me strangely."

"Panda…you really are fucking stupid," he said as he lay back down and turned away from her.

"Why were you looking at me like that?" She asked cautiously after a few moments. Hidan groaned but turned onto his back and stared at the ceiling.

"To tell you the truth…I have no fucking idea," he said as he sighed, "But whatever it was…you were looking at me in the same damn way." Her eyes widened in shock as she lay down next to him.

"What do you suppose it was?" Tenten asked curiously.

"I don't know, damnit! Now shut up and go to sleep, damn!" He said as he turned over and closed his eyes, signaling the end of their conversation. Tenten lay there for several moments thinking about it before she too closed her eyes but not before one more thought passed through her mind.

_'You know what that look was…you're just afraid to admit it…'_

* * *

**A/N: Yeah…this chapter blew the big one…it sucked hard. I've been writing this one whenever I had free time and that happens to usually be between 12 and 3 in the morning so…I really don't want to hear any complaints. Well…I'm tired now…so goodnight all!**

_Contest Time: Okay…so the contest this time is, whoever can give me a good mission for Deidara, Ino, and Tobi to go on in the next chapter I will write them a one shot with the pairing of their choice as long as the pairing is purely hetero –smiles and disappears-_


	8. There Was Always Something

**A/N: Holy crap guys…I got twenty reviews for the last chapter! You guys are definitely trying to spoil me. Anyways, the winner of the contest from the last chapter is…SilverFox91! Congratulations! Just let me know what pairing you want for your one-shot. Also, I will be writing my loyal fan and reviewer, Lily-chan, a Kiba and Temari one-shot as requested. So be ready to see that coming out, I'd like as many opinions on my one-shots as possible since I've never written one. Oh, and I'm also pleased to say that people actually like my inspiration music section…that made my day! Thank you so much FreeFallJumper and MoriMori!! **

**This chapter is dedicated to Dave, for being my one and only, Mike, for being my very best friend through everything, Ali, for being absolutely awesome and always knowing what to say, Nata-chan, for being a new reader and loving my story, sn1ck3rD00dl3, for loving my Hidan and Tenten pairing so much, and Lily-chan (Bleeding-lily), for being an awesome and faithful reviewer. You all rock!!**

**Inspiration Music: Bulimic by The Used (for Tenten and Neji…strange), Poetic Tragedy by The Used (for Itachi…also strange), Smack a Bitch by Monkey's Forever (for the Leader-sama because he likes to smack his bitches XD), Noise and Kisses by The Used (for Deidara and Ino…okay that's normal), Greener with the Scenery by The Used (for Tenten and Hidan), and Coming Undone by Korn (for Deidara).**

**Disclaimer: I do not own much, and in my collection of things I do own there is no Naruto.**

_From the way that you acted _

_To the way that I felt it _

_It wasn't worth my time _

_And now it's sad cause all I missed _

_Wasn't that good to begin with _

_And now I've started you begging _

_Saying things that you don't mean _

_It isn't worth my time _

_A line's a dime a million times _

_And I'm about to see all of them_

_From Bulimic by the Used_

* * *

_Chapter 9: There Was Always Something_

Ino awoke, her body aching from the training the day before. She groaned and turned over onto her side, not really wanting to remember what had happened. First, she figured she would get off easy since Deidara had declared that she would fight Tobi but then the little bastard had run off saying he had prior arrangements with Zetsu-san. So instead of having a nice little spar with Tobi she had an all out war with Deidara. She imagined the battlefield where they fought was still littered with kunai, shuriken, and craters from Deidara's explosions. Not that that wasn't bad enough, after she got her butt kicked by the blonde haired artist she had to follow him and do some extra 'team work training' so they would be able to fight together if necessary. Load of bullshit that was, he just wanted to see her suffer. So much for him trying to be a tolerable teammate. Sighing, she pretended to be asleep still so she wouldn't have to get out of bed. Just as she was about to fall back asleep, something pounced on top of her waking her up completely.

"Wake up Ino-chan! Today you get to go on your first mission with Tobi!" Said the figure on top of her. She groaned and opened her eyes to find none other than Tobi straddling her. Her eyes widened at their position and she quickly threw the poor boy off, sending him sprawling to the floor. A little ways away she could hear laughter, so she turned her head and found Deidara leaning against the wall fully dressed and laughing.

"I don't see what's so funny, but whatever," she said as she threw the blankets off and stepped out of bed.

"Nothing really, I just figured you needed a wake-up call, un," Deidara said as he pushed himself off the wall and walked over to her.

"You know you keep getting worse and worse everyday," she said as she shook her head and walked around the front of the bed, grabbing a pair of clothes and walking over to the bathroom for a shower. As she was walking through the door, she heard Deidara say something from inside the room.

"Try to make it quick…breakfast will be soon and then we have to go meet Leader-sama for our mission, un," he said as he took a seat at the edge of the bed. She nodded her consent and walked into the bathroom.

Deidara sat at the edge of the bed and looked over at Tobi, who was still sprawled on the carpeted floor. He smirked and kicked the masked Akatsuki member in the side, making Tobi jump a little.

"Hey, get up and get out…I don't think Ino-chan liked our little wake up plan very much, un," he said as he kicked him again this time a little rougher. Tobi nodded and got up off the floor.

"I'm not sure, I think she liked waking up and seeing Tobi," Tobi said as he moved across the room and out of the door. Deidara rolled his eyes and lay back on the bed, waiting for his blonde counterpart to get out of the bathroom.

Inside the shower Ino was washing her hair with some sort of shampoo that Deidara had in there. It wouldn't have been funny but the shampoo was a nice fruity smelling shampoo, very girly. She giggled as she lathered it through her long blonde hair, combing out tangles with her fingers. Once satisfied with the cleanliness of her hair, she grabbed the bottle of conditioner. She squirted almost a handful of the creamy looking orange conditioner into her hand. Moving out of the water she lathered it into her hair, making sure she got every part of her hair evenly. As she stood in the shower, she watched the water pound down to the bottom. It looked like a sad attempt of a waterfall. Smiling, she stepped back under the water and let the conditioner slide out of her hair and down the drain. When she was sure every bit of it was gone, she turned the knob on the wall to turn off the water and stepped out of the shower. The bathroom was steamy from the heat still as she walked over to the mirror.

Wanting to be able to see her reflection, she rubbed away the condensation and smiled when a small circle appeared where she could see herself. She snatched a towel from the wall and patted herself dry. Then putting her clothes on, she looked in the mirror one last time before exiting.

"Your hair is still wet, un," Deidara said right in front of her. She jumped slightly at the sound of his voice, but relaxed when she realized it was only Deidara. Blushing at how close they were, she nodded.

"Well, duh, it's still wet, I just got out of the freaking shower!" She said as she placed her hands on her hips.

"I think its kind of sexy, un," he said as he took another step towards her. Ino's eyes widened to the size of saucers and all she could do was stand there dumbly as he placed a hand on her cheek. Her eyes frantically moved between both of his trying to find something there, she wasn't sure what that something was…just something. Just as his lips met hers, there was a knock at the door. Sense came flying back to Ino and she pulled away, still blushing. Deidara groaned at the interruption and walked to the door. Upon opening it, he was tackled to the ground.

"Tobi just wanted to let Deidara-sempai know that breakfast was ready and that Itachi-san looks kinda mad that you're not there yet," Tobi announced as he jumped back up and ran back out the door. Deidara growled in annoyance and stood back up but before anything more could happen Ino swiftly moved around him and followed Tobi out the door.

Ino moved quickly and quietly down the hall, alone. She had her eyes kept on the floor, knowing where she was going but not paying full attention to the way. Suddenly, she bumped into a person. Expecting it to be Tobi, she raised her head and began an apology.

"Look…I'm sorry I just wasn't pay-," she started to say before she noticed the person she bumped into was most definitely not Tobi. What she saw when she looked up she wasn't even sure if she could call it a man. It had the body of a man and the face of a man. The only things that threw her off was the Venus flytrap perched on his shoulders and the fact that his body was divided into two colors, one half midnight black and the other a perfect white. His eyes were a piercing yellow, like some sort of cat but without the pupil.

"No, you weren't paying attention," said one half of him, she guessed the black side.

"You know we could give her a break and let her pass," said the other half, probably the white side.

"She's about as idiotic as Tobi, but she is wearing our cloak so Leader-sama must want her here," said black.

"Let's let her pass, she must be with Deidara," said white and the thing moved aside, allowing her to move. Ino bit her lip trying to will her body to move, but finding it almost impossible.

"Come on Ino-chan, it's time for breakfast. Thank you Zetsu-san, un," she heard Deidara say as he placed his hands on her back and led her away from the plant thing. Once they were a good distance away in the living room, he stopped pushing her and sighed.

"He's not someone you want to get yourself wrapped up in, un," he said as he closed his eye and placed a hand behind his head. Ino found herself nodding slowly, still a bit shaken from the experience. Then she found her body moving over to him and wrapping her arms around his neck. She saw him smirk; she knew he thought she was just going to hug him.

"Thank you Deidara-kun," she said as she moved onto her tiptoes and placed a small kiss on his lips. Blushing, she got back down, turned around, and walked away heading for the dining room. Deidara stood there for a moment, shocked into silence for once and then wordlessly followed after Ino.

Once the two made their appearance in the dining room, the occupants of the room collectively sighed sans Itachi.

"Damn it took you two idiots long enough! What the hell were you doing? Having sex?" Hidan asked as they two took their seats. Ino glared at him and blushed while Deidara rolled his eyes and grabbed a muffin.

"So, who made breakfast this time, un?" Deidara asked as he took a bite of his blueberry muffin.

"Well, it was supposed to be Itachi-san but Sakura-chan woke up early and decided to make a special breakfast for us all," Tobi said as he grabbed a piece of toast. Ino turned and looked at Sakura, who was presently blushing.

"Well…I really had nothing better to do since I figured you all were still asleep," she said modestly.

"It is very well prepared," Itachi said as he took a sip of homemade orange juice. Sakura blushed an even deeper shade of red and turned to the stoic man.

"Um…thank you…Itachi-san," she said with a small smile. He simply nodded once and turned back to his food. Apparently satisfied, Sakura smiled and ate her food in silence.

Across the table, Tenten was fidgeting with her fork and stealing glances at Hidan every now and then. She was trying to find the same look in his eyes that she had seen the night before. Taking a small bite out of a piece of buttered toast she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye only to find him looking back at her. Immediately, she blushed and turned away opting to look at her plate instead. Hidan smirked and looked away from her.

"So you three freaks have your first mission today, huh?" Hidan asked, gesturing to Ino, Deidara, and Tobi. Deidara and Ino simply nodded while Tobi stood from his chair and nodded enthusiastically.

"Yup! Tobi finally gets to work with Ino-chan on a mission!" Tobi exclaimed happily. Deidara rolled his eyes, grabbed the back of Tobi's cloak, and pulled him back into his seat.

"Ino-chan doesn't want to go on a mission with you because all you ever do is run away, un," Deidara said as he placed his elbow on the table and lazily ate the rest of his muffin. Ino smiled and shook her head at Tobi, letting him know that what Deidara said wasn't true. Tobi nodded enthusiastically again and then became engrossed in a one-sided conversation with Kakuzu about the greatness of Tuesdays.

"Does he really?" Ino asked Deidara in a low whisper so no one else could hear their conversation. Deidara looked confused for a moment before nodding his head.

"Yeah…he has a tendency to run off and make me do all the work…but now I'm not alone, I've got you to work with, un," Deidara whispered in reply. Ino ignored the comment about her and nodded.

"I wonder why he does that…it's sort of weird for an Akatsuki member," she whispered more to herself than him. Deidara simply shrugged his shoulder and finished the rest of his breakfast.

Wiping his hands on his cloak, Deidara stood from the table and gave them all a grin. "Well, Ino-chan, Tobi, and I need to go meet with Leader-sama now, so we'll catch you guys later, un," he said with a smirk. Ino nodded getting the hint and stood along with him.

"Bye guys…see you later," she said with a smile, mostly to Tenten and Sakura. The two began to move towards the door, Deidara grabbing Tobi and dragging him along with them. As Tobi was being dragged her waved an enthusiastic goodbye to all of them before the dining room door closed. Deidara sighed at his partners' stupidity and dropped him, hoping he would have the brains to stand and follow after them. For once Tobi surprised him and came bounding after them walking after the two into the sunlight.

"Hey, uh, Deidara-kun…thanks again for helping me get away from…Zetsu," she said as she walked beside him. Deidara looked down at her and smirked.

"Don't worry, you gave me payment enough, Ino-chan, un," Deidara said as he continued to walk towards the small building where the Leader was located. Ino blushed and continued along the path in silence. The only sound reverberating between the three shinobi as they walked was their footsteps and their breathing, casting an almost peaceful feeling among them. As they stopped in front of the small cabin, Tobi began to clap like an excited three year old.

"Okay, when we get inside…Tobi…you're going to have to shut up for once and Ino-chan…just do whatever you did last time since Leader-sama seemed to like you, un," Deidara said as he opened the small door, not waiting for their reply. The trio walked in silently and they stopped before the three pillows set on the ground for them. After a moment, the Leader's shady hologram appeared and the three bowed respectfully to him before kneeling on their respective pillows. The Leader simply nodded once in acknowledgement and stood before them.

"Tobi, Deidara, and Ino…you are to be sent on your first mission as a team today," the Leader started. The trio simply nodded. "As your first mission I am sending you on a simple quest to retrieve something for me.

"You are to travel to Konohagakure and pick up something for me in the Hokage's personal library. In this library there will be many books, most separated into sections according to author, time period, and under which Hokage they were written. I want you to get me a book that is by an author that goes by the simple name of G. It was written approximately twenty years ago and the Hokage reining over Konoha at the time was the infamous 'Yellow Flash'. This book holds information about the bijuu such as the names, how many there are, and estimates in how powerful each of them is. I have assigned you this mission because I believe Ino-san's knowledge of the village will allow you better movement capabilities. I trust you can all handle this?" He asked, finishing his mission debriefing.

"Hai," Tobi said, for once unenthusiastically.

"Hn," Deidara said, nodding his acceptance of the mission. Ino looked between her two teammates and regretfully nodded along with them. Not only was she going back to her homelands under the premises of Akatsuki but also she had to steal something from the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade. She could already tell this wasn't going to end well.

"You are to leave tonight and head east towards your destination. You would do well not to fail me," the Leader finished before disappearing. As soon as his figure had completely left the area, Ino let out a sigh.

"Deidara-kun…I don't know if I'll be able to do this," she said in a whisper. Deidara looked over at her from his place on the floor.

"Ino-chan…there's not much I can do to stop this from happening…Leader-sama always used to give Sasori-no-danna and I missions to Iwagakure…even just after I had abandoned it," Deidara said with a small amount of sympathy held in his tone. Ino vaguely noticed that he had not said 'un' at the end of his sentence.

"But…what if someone I know sees me there?" she said, thinking of her old team…Shikamaru, Chouji, and the late Asuma, "If Shika or Chouji see me…" She ended, beginning to trail off. Deidara sighed and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Ino…really…that's why we wear these cloaks and with the hat on, they'll never be able to know that it's you, un," he said with a smirk. Ino slowly looked over to him and a small smile began to form on her lips.

"Yeah…I guess you're right…and if we go in at night…there won't be even a chance that anyone sees me," she said, gaining more confidence. Nodding confidently, she stood up and made her way over to the door. Deidara smirked and followed after her, leaving Tobi staring at their departing figures.

* * *

Tenten walked slowly behind Hidan, not really sure where they were going. What she was sure of was that it most definitely wasn't their room and it most definitely wasn't the training grounds. Occasionally, Hidan would throw her a glance over his shoulder making her even more confused. They had left the main building and were walking through the woods with seemingly no direction, she only hoped he actually knew what he was doing and where he was going. Getting more and more nervous the farther they got away from the HQ, she decided to say something.

"Er…Hidan…won't Leader-sama get mad that we're out here and not at the HQ with everyone else?" She asked as she stepped over a corroding log. Tenten couldn't see his face but she imagined he was rolling his eyes.

"Who gives a fuck about him? Damn bastard is always ordering me around anyway so why can't I just get a second of peace," Hidan said as he looked around him as though searching for something. She saw his head move to the left and saw the faint out lines of a smirk on his face. Nodding, he turned left and made his way over to whatever he was smirking at. Tenten frowned but followed after him, making sure not to stray too far.

"So, are you sure you're not just taking me out here to sacrifice me to your god?" She asked, slightly sarcastic and slightly serious. Hidan turned his head and she saw him smirk before turning back around.

"Nah, Jashin-sama will get enough sacrifices and blood the next time we go on a mission. Besides, what makes you think you're good enough to be sacrificed to him?" He asked as he continued walking. Tenten frowned and blinked once noticing that the sky was darkening, signaling night.

"I guess I don't think that then," she said as she crossed her arms in front of her chest and continued walking behind him. Suddenly, he stopped and she almost walked into his back.

"Alright, Panda, here we are," Hidan said mysteriously as he folded over a couple of branches to expose a small clearing in the woods. Tenten looked into the clearing, mystified. It was a plain and simple clearing; the only thing setting it apart from any other clearing was the small pond in the middle. Hidan smirked at her reaction and walked passed the branches and into the grass. Tenten soon followed after, tripping as she tried to keep up with his larger footsteps. Again, he stopped before a small dock over the pond.

"Did you build this?" She asked, staring at the wood of the dock. Hidan nodded as he walked out onto the deck and took a seat right in the middle. Tenten simply stared at him for a moment, not sure what she was supposed to do.

"You can come over here and sit, Panda, I'll just have to burn this dock and make a new one," he said as he leaned back on his hands and looked up at the drifting clouds. Tenten nodded quickly and trotted over to him. Nervously, she took a seat to his left mimicking his position and staring at the sky.

"The day is almost over," she said casually as she dipped her finger into the pond and traced circles in the water lazily.

"Yeah, why the hell do you think I took you here at this time of day? We're here to watch the sunset you dumb shit," he said not really venomously but in more of a joking fashion. Glancing at him from the corner of her eye, she became confused.

"But why would you take me down here…I thought you hated me," she said as she turned her attention to the circles she was creating in the ponds surface. For a moment Hidan looked over at her but he quickly turned back to the sky.

"I thought I did too," he murmured, almost inaudible. Somehow, she managed to catch it and for some reason the small statement was enough to make her blush. Then, any response she had in mind was cut short as the sky began to turn a deep shade of orange. Wordlessly, Tenten brought her eyes back to the horizon line to watch as the last glimpses of daylight were taken out of existence. The sun looked as though it had turned to liquid on the water. It was spilling forth all the colors that made it so magnificent. The corners of her closed lips upturned slightly as she watched the sky be painted and then repainted every time the sun went further down. Then, finally, it seemed to relax into a nice calm dark blue color as the last rays of light were taken from the sky. She blinked as she felt a hand on her shoulder. The hand pulled her down onto her back so that she was lying down on the wood. Turning to look for the owner of the hand, she found Hidan looking over towards the tree line.

"Okay so you thought the sunset was cool, but this is also pretty awesome," Hidan said as he pointed in the direction he was looking. Tenten nodded and followed where he was pointing. Over in the distance there were tiny blinks of yellow light dancing all around the trees. As the sky grew dimmer more of the little lights began to dance with their counterparts. It looked almost like a play that they were putting on for the two lying on the dock. Tenten giggled slightly at the sight and watched them in pure fascination.

"You know…my mom always used to tell me when I was little that fireflies are trying to tell you something when they blink," she said as watched the show the bugs were putting on.

"Oh really, then almighty Panda of the heavens, what the hell are they trying to tell us?" Hidan asked as he turned away from them and looked over at her. Tenten bit her lip in thought but soon she smiled with the resolution of the question.

"Well…actually my mom also said that the fireflies only dance in a group like that…when they know someone is searching for their light," she said with a goofy smile. Hidan gave her a strange look, looking between her and the fireflies.

"That is the dumbest shit I have ever heard," he said as he folded his hands behind his head, relaxing on the dock. Tenten glared at him for a moment, looking into his eyes for the more fierce 'I'm dead serious' look, before she saw it. The same thing she had seen in his eyes the night before…a glint…or…or…something else…it was just something. Hidan rolled his eyes and turned his head away from her and back to the fireflies. Not completely done with her investigation, she gently turned his face back to her. He looked confused but there was no protest.

"Hidan? Is there…um…something different in my eyes than when you first met me?" She asked unsurely. Hidan furrowed his brow slightly and then, after a moment, nodded.

"Yeah…why? Is it in mine too?" He asked, sounding almost nervous. Tenten hesitantly nodded at him.

"Why? Is that bad?" She asked curiously.

"I don't know…I've seen it before…I know I have but I cannot for the life of me figure out where the fuck it was," he said.

"Oh…well I was just wondering since…I've only ever seen it once," she said as she let her arm drop over the side of the dock and twirl lazily in the water. Hidan seemed to let it drop for the moment until he turned to her looking completely serious.

"Tenten…I want you to kiss me," he said, completely serious, the usage of her actual name portraying that he really truly wanted her to. Slowly, she nodded and leaned forward slightly allowing her lips to simply graze his. Then she leaned forward a little more and placed a small simple kiss on his lips. Seeming satisfied with her actions, Hidan simply sat there and looked at her.

"Now…where is the place you've seen this look before?" He asked as if he was interrogating her.

"Well…in myself actually…when I was back in Konoha, I would look in the bathroom mirror once before leaving…and…I was usually going to meet my team…or namely one person…my teammate, Neji…so he was constantly on my mind…and when I looked into the mirror…I was always thinking about him…and those are the times…that I saw that look," she explained.

"Do you care about him?" He asked still in interrogation mode.

"Well, yeah, he was my teammate," she said with a casual wave of her hand.

"Just because a person is your teammate doesn't mean you have to care about them…just look at me and Kakuzu for example…we couldn't careless if the other dropped off the face of the fucking planet," he said just as casually as she had, "So I'll ask you again…do you care about him?"

"…Yes…I cared about him a lot at one point…I thought I was going to marry him," she said, delving into her memories.

"You thought?" He asked suspiciously.

"Yes…thought, the past tense of think…the funny thing is…that I think I have my eyes set on somebody else now," she said as she turned to him, giving him the same serious look he had given her, "Hidan…I want you to kiss me." Hidan gave her a smirk and leaned forward, planting his lips on hers for the fourth time in a week.

'_Neji…will you forgive me?…I believe…you've been forgotten.'_

_I'm about to see a million things _

_I thought I'd never see before and I _

_I'm about to do all the things I dreamed of _

_And I don't even miss you at all_

_From Bulimic by The Used_

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**A/N: Well…that was a long chapter to keep you guys satisfied until I come back from Boston…I'll be gone for a week, so try not to forget me. Well, again congratulations SilverFox91, send me your idea, and don't forget to press that lavender button that says review story. Musically yours, Starchii.**


	9. The Painful Mission

**A/N: So, I'm back from my vacation to Boston, I bet you're all happy to hear from me again. Maybe…Anyways, it was fun, I got to go to Salem, the city of the supernatural. Also, I got to visit Harvard campus it was awesome. So all in all I had a good time. All right, well I'm just going to stop rambling, and try to think of ideas for this and for my two one-shots I have to write…I feel swamped.**

**This chapter is dedicated to Muu, for not being dead and continuing to beta my story, Dave, for doing nothing to help me in my writing but still being a great boyfriend, Mike and Kyle, for being my best friends through everything, Ali, for being an amazing person and helping me through all the tough times, Lily-chan, for being an awesome author here on and an awesome reviewer of my story, and FreeFallJumper, for being awesome and loving this story.**

**Inspiration Music: Falls On Me by Fuel (for all three of the couples in my story), Going Under by Evanescence (for Ino), Stand My Ground by Within Temptation (also for Ino), Grand Theft Autumn by Fall Out Boy (for Ino and Deidara), Slept So Long by Jay Gordon of Orgy (for Hidan and Tenten).**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. (Wow, I'm boring today…)**

* * *

_Chapter 10: The Painful Mission_

_I've seen you hanging 'round_

_This darkness where I'm bound_

_And this black hole I've dug for me_

_And silently within with hands touching skin_

_The shock breaks my disease_

_And I can breathe_

_From Falls On Me by Fuel_

Ino panted as she ran, going from treetop to treetop-following Deidara and Tobi. Her necklace was thumping against her chest as she moved, only serving to remind her of her imprisonment. If only she could get the darn thing off of her, she could escape. The problem was that the dang thing refused to come off of her neck, she could take the ring on and off but whenever she took it off the necklace sort of heated up and burnt her a little bit. She still had a bird shaped red spot on her chest from the last time she had taken the ring off. Sighing, she continued her game of counting the amount of times Deidara's ponytail bounced.

The leaves on the trees surrounding them were a dark green from the night sky. Some of the bark was peeling on the branches they were leaping on, obviously from ninja's taking the same route they were now taking. Ino sighed, her legs already getting exhausted from the trip. They hadn't been traveling very long, three maybe four hours but since she had been held up for such a long time, her legs weren't used to the exertion. Deidara glanced back at her, as though to make sure she was still there and then turned back to the distance. Somehow, she got the feeling that they were slowly picking up the pace. Ino didn't even know what country they were in. For all she knew they could be somewhere in the southern countries and have to travel for a week before they arrived in Fire country. Or they could already be in Fire country and they were only a hop, skip, and a jump away from the place.

Ino saw some faint lights in the distance and immediately knew that they were close to Konoha. Maybe it was the feeling of the familiar terrain beneath her feet, or maybe it was the fact that she could already see the Konohagakure sign looming in the distance. Sighing, she slowed a bit to mentally prepare herself. Not matter what anyone told her, she still felt as though she was betraying everyone she loved…and coming back definitely was not helping the guilt. Oh, not to mention that she had to steal from Sakura's mentor, the Hokage, Tsunade-sama. That was a real kicker. Thanks a lot Leader-sama, I love you too.

Suddenly, she became aware of the fact that Deidara was standing beside her, so close that his bicep was touching hers. She jumped slightly; Ino wasn't even aware that she had stopped. Glancing over at Deidara, she smiled weakly.

"Come on, Ino-chan, we're on a schedule, un," he said as she grasped her arm gently.

"Deidara-kun…I guess I'm just a little scared…it doesn't feel right to walk into my village as a criminal," she said as she looked away from his brilliant blue eye to the ground. Sighing, he looked to the distance where Tobi was waiting for them. He moved his hair away from his eye to reveal the scope. Clicking it a few times, he saw Tobi sitting on a branch hiding his presence from anyone who happened to pass by. Clicking it twice more, he saw the village of Konoha, the two guards standing beside the entrance getting ready to switch their positions with two other shinobi.

"Ino-chan, I wish I could comfort you more…but we really need to go…don't think of yourself as Yamanaka Ino, pretend you're some other person, a person not even familiar with Konoha. That's the only thing I can think of to try and get your mind off of it, un," he said as he began to leap off of the branch they were standing on and move forward. Ino simply nodded and followed his movements, her arm still held in his firm yet gentle grasp. She did as he suggested and began to think of a new name and profile for herself as a way to keep her mind off of things.

Haruka was the name she decided on and she would be from Kumogakure, the Hidden Cloud Village. In the dark she imagined her life as a rogue shinobi, having killed the daimyo of the country. She imagined she had run into Deidara and Tobi in the forest and they had seen her fit to join Akatsuki. When she had come to the Akatsuki Leader he had also seen her potential and made her a temporary member, making her teammates with Tobi and Deidara simply because they had no one else she could be partnered with. Just as she had been about to explore her relationship with Deidara a touch to her arm brought her back to reality.

"Hey, Ino-chan, we're here, Deidara-sempai already went ahead," Tobi whispered to her and began to leap off without her. Ino sighed and took off after them. She leapt quietly through the remaining trees and eventually touched solid ground. Quickly, she sped in through the gates, the guards gone due to the changing. She recalled telling Tsunade-sama that she thought it was stupid that the guards left their post before their replacements appeared but now it was her savior and she was grateful.

Finding Deidara and Tobi was simple; they had grabbed her and pulled her into an alleyway that was conveniently placed close to her own home. Gulping, she hid her chakra signature and turned to the two. They were placing their straw hats on top of their heads. She vaguely noticed that the bells were missing. Following their lead, she put hers on top off her head, the small bells jingling, sending an eerie sound through the night. One of them jumped at her, she couldn't tell which under the hats, and ripped the bells off of her hat.

"Weren't you thinking?" Came Deidara's angry whisper from under the hat as he pulled back, his hand muffling the jingle of the bells inside his clenched fist. Ino looked taken aback underneath the hat.

"I-I…I-It…it was…an a-accident," she whispered back, shakily, still somewhat shocked that he had been so aggressive. Deidara sighed, trying to compose himself and turned to Tobi.

"You know what to do, un," he said and Tobi nodded once before disappearing in a small puff of smoke, "I sent him to go a make sure no one was coming…he's patrolling the area. Look…I'm sorry, Ino-chan, for blowing up on you but…it's a mission, so…every precaution is taken. All right, listen; you're going to lead me to where the Hokage's library is," Deidara said as she stared at her intently, even though they could barely make out each others faces. Ino glared at him but bit her lip and nodded.

"Yeah, sure, it's fine, let's go," she said, sounding aggravated, as she leapt onto the nearest rooftop and began to head to the Hokage's tower. Turning her head, she saw Deidara following closely behind her. Thinking to herself, she knew that the shinobi probably knew that they were there. The way of Konoha shinobi, though, is to never let your enemy know your actions. The only exception to that rule being, Uzumaki Naruto, who had a tendency to rush into things before evaluating the situation. Rolling her eyes at the thought, she continued to run over the rooftops.

When they finally made it across the span of roofs to the Hokage's tower, she stopped in front of the door. A lone tear trickled down her face as she silently opened the door to the tower. Two tears escaped her eyes as she walked down the hall and stopped once again at a pair of large, wooden doors. Four more came down as she broke the lock on the library doors and disarmed all the traps set. Six flowed freely down as she led Deidara to the place where the book Leader-sama wanted was stored. Eight as she opened the air locked door and walked inside, followed by an S-class criminal, her teammate. Ten watery drops hit the linoleum floor as she scanned the shelves and found the exact book Leader-sama wanted, Bijuu: A Dangerous Demon by G. Twelve as she pulled the book off the shelf and led Deidara from the cubicle, sealing the door behind her. Fourteen slid down her pale cheeks as she walked out of the library and into the hall. Sixteen more followed as she silently walked down the hall next to one of the men that Tsunade-sama sought to kill.

"Stop where you are!" Said a familiar male voice from down the hall. Now Ino lost count of her tears a she stopped and turned on the spot, only to see two very familiar shinobi. Her lower lip trembled as the two ran towards them.

"Oh man, this is troublesome, why would Tsunade-sama send us to stop these two," she heard Shikamaru say to Chouji.

"I don't know, ever since Ino disappeared she's been giving us a lot more missions, probably to keep our minds off of it," Chouji replied as he ran beside his partner and superior.

"Ino-chan, we're going to have to fight them if they try to stop us, un," Deidara whispered to her. Ino slowly nodded, her face wet with tears. The two stopped running and stood a few feet from Deidara and Ino; now the only sound in the hall was Ino's sobbing.

"Why's she crying, huh? Fuck her too hard last night?" Asked Chouji with a sneer.

"Yeah, railed her pretty bad, couldn't walk straight in the morning. Now, she's crying for me to take her again, un," Deidara said as she threw off his hat, a nasty smirk plastered to his face. Ino looked to him and sobbed harder mostly because the thought of having sex with him wasn't as disgusting as she thought it would be.

"Ugh, oh man, that's disgusting. Stop talking about that, I wouldn't want to throw up my last barbeque meal," Chouji said, making gagging noises.

"How troublesome," Shikamaru muttered from beside Chouji, grabbing the bridge of his nose tightly. That was the final straw; Ino didn't want her best friends to think of her as Deidara's bitch, she had to reveal her real self.

"Shut up!" She shouted feebly as she also threw off her hat. Even though her shout was weak, everyone in the hall stopped their bickering immediately and turned to look at her. Deidara looked at her in shock, while the other two simply stared, their jaws hanging open.

"I-Ino!" Chouji said incredulously. Shikamaru simply stared at her, his eyes wide with shock.

'_So the lazy genius managed to show emotion on my behalf…great.'_

Ino stood there, her hair sitting uncomfortably on her back. She bit her lip as she stood before the two of them, remembering her time with them. Shoving the book forcefully into Deidara's arms, she stood before them, determination washing over her.

"Deidara-kun, take the book and meet with Tobi. Leave the village and I'll meet you there, okay," she said with a small glance over at him.

"Alright…if you're sure, Ino-chan, un," Deidara said as he disappeared in a poof of smoke, leaving the former Team Ten to stare at each other.

"You…are the real Ino, aren't you?" Chouji asked, tentatively. Her last tears dripped off of her nose onto the wooden floor, leaving small puddles. Taking a shaky breath, she nodded.

"Of course I am! Who else were you expecting?" She asked, trying to impersonate her old self. The person they knew…the person she thought she knew. Chouji and Shikamaru glanced at each other and turned back to her with completely straight faces.

"Anyone but you…" She heard Chouji mumble in response to her question.

"Ino…why were you crying…apparently you're skilled enough to join Akatsuki so why were you disobeying one of the first lessons we ever learn?" Shikamaru asked as he motioned to her Akatsuki cloak.

"I didn't join willingly…I was kidnapped…Sakura, Tenten, and I…we were kidnapped by them…and now…we're forced to comply with them." She wanted to say…but she couldn't bring herself to tell them that she was too weak to escape.

"While Sakura, Tenten, and I were traveling back to Konoha we were approached by Deidara-kun and his partner. They offered us a spot with them and took us with them to headquarters. You see the three of us are sick of being looked down on, so we joined them. Now, this is my first mission with my new teammates, so if you'll excuse me I need to finish this," she said as she turned to jump out the nearest window.

"But why, then, were you crying?" Shikamaru further implored, the gears in his genius mind no doubt running. Ino cringed slightly, hopefully neither of her ex-teammates noticed, at the question. What should she say? Oh, I just felt bad coming back and stealing from Tsunade-sama. No, that would definitely raise more questions. Gulping, she decided to just lie. It was better if they hated her anyways…made it easier to do the things she was doing.

"It's exactly as Deidara-kun said…he took my virginity last night, and I was crying for more," she said coldly as she threw a smoke bomb onto the ground. As the smoke rose, she burst through the glass window. When her feet finally hit solid ground, she found her center and took off running towards any exit she could get to.

Sprinting wildly, Ino savored the feeling of the cool night air flying against her skin and making her hair fly out behind her. The exit to the village loomed ever nearer and when she was close enough she hurled herself through, before either of the guards could stop her. Not stopping, she heard the sound of voices behind her, screaming at one another. Ino knew she had gotten off easy…Shikamaru and Chouji had gone easy on her because they still cared about her…so they gave her a running start. Little did they know that they wouldn't be able to catch her…not yet. Her lungs began to scream in agony as they worked overtime to keep her heart beating. Again, she was dragged to the side by her teammates. Deidara grinned at her with Tobi standing nearby, obviously checking for enemies.

"You know, Ino-chan, that was pretty brave, un," Deidara said with a smirk. Ino nodded half-heartedly and sighed. So what if she was brave, it didn't change that fact that Shikamaru and Chouji hated her. Shivering, she turned her back on Deidara and stood at the edge of the branch the three of them were sharing. The leaves rustled as a gust of midnight wind blew through the area.

"Let's get out of here…we have Leader-sama's book so we can go back," she said as she pulled a kunai from her pouch and began to twirl it lazily. The words were empty, she knew, all that she really wanted to do right now was curl up and sleep. Ino was exhausted from the trip there…and emotionally strained from lying to her best friends.

"Yeah, I guess it would be better if we didn't stick around anyways. Come on Tobi, un," Deidara said as he took off through the trees, heading back to the headquarters. Tobi turned at his name, nodded, and took off behind Deidara, both of them expecting her to follow. Ino sighed once more and made to leap off after them, but found that she couldn't move. Again, she tried to take a step off the branch but found her body was unwilling to listen to her. Suddenly, realization washed over her as her body turned around without her mind commanding it to do so. She always liked Shikamaru's bloodline limit but right now she loathed it more than anything.

"Ino, don't think I'm going to let you leave that easily," Shikamaru said, he was alone at the moment. Ino absolutely hated the look he was giving her…for once in her life he was glaring at her. The forest was silent for a moment as she stared at him and he returned her stare.

"Shikamaru…" She said shakily as he began to walk towards her, making her walk towards him. In the dark, she couldn't even see the shadow that was binding them together.

"Shut up, Ino. I don't want to believe what you said back at the Hokage's tower but the way you willingly stole from Tsunade-sama…I'm pretty sure you were telling the truth, maybe even the last part," he said as he shook with disgust at the thought, in turn making her shake. Ino didn't even try to break the hold he had, she had seen his signature technique many times, and no one ever escaped.

"But you know what Ino, I know that deep down I could never be able to hate you, the way you seem to hate me and everyone else you ever held precious. I think that you're just running away, Ino, like a little girl from all the bad things. You wanted power and now, you're no better than Uchiha Itachi. I'm surprised you didn't kill me and Chouji when you had the chance," Shikamaru spat at her, his glare still marring his usually lazy façade. Ino bit her lower lip, drawing a bit of metallic tasting blood, to keep herself from crying again. Everything he said to her made her just a little bit more dead inside, striking a different place in her heart every time.

"Shikamaru…please…stop…" she said weakly as he moved them so that they were standing directly in front of each other, Ino was forced to look into Shikamaru's eyes.

"Stop what Yamanaka? You disappear, make me worry, then come back and tell me you've just gone and screwed some S-class criminal…and…liked it. You really are a troublesome woman…and you know what…during all that time…" Shikamaru began to say, then stopped as he looked down at her, the glare temporarily gone. Now he stared down at her with something akin to…concern?

"Shikamaru…" She began to say but lost her train of thought as he began to close the distance between them, him moving and her unwillingly moving. Just as their lips were about to meet, an explosion rocked the branch they were standing on. With a sickening snap, the branch broke off of its tree and sent both surprised shinobi plummeting towards the earth. In the surprise, Ino felt the connection between her and Shikamaru break. Too shocked to stop herself from falling onto her neck, she tightly closed her eyes and prepared for the pain.

Ino grunted as she felt herself land on something and begin to move. Tentatively, she opened her eyes to find that she was being carried, bridal style, in Deidara's arms. Sighing in relief, she relaxed a bit in his arms.

"Thanks Deidara-kun…I thought for sure I was done for," she said softly as the wind whipped around the two of them, making a whistling noise in her ears. Deidara glanced down at her for a moment and smirked.

"Yeah, I was pretty sure you were going to get raped so jumped in to save the day, un," he said, his long blonde hair whipping around in his face. Ino rolled her eyes and allowed herself to be carried back to headquarters. As her mind drifted into blissful unconsciousness, one thought crossed her mind…if and when she got back to Konoha, nothing between her and one Nara Shikamaru would ever be the same.

* * *

"So…how long do you plan on staying out here with me?" Tenten asked from her position on the dock, still lying next to Hidan. The pair hadn't moved since nightfall, the fireflies had long since moved down along the path of the trees but they remained perfectly still, almost enjoying each others company. They both had no idea what time it was…and yet neither of them seemed to care. At the moment, they were staring at the starry sky, silently attempting to pick out constellations that they knew.

Tenten turned her head when she heard a grunt like laugh from her companion. She found Hidan's smirking face turning towards her, a glint in his eye.

"I don't know…you want to go back, Panda?" He asked, the smirk only growing when she began to blush.

"Well, I…I…" She began to attempt to say before she sighed in defeat, "No…not really…I'd rather just stay here."

Satisfied with her decision, he relaxed again, still looking into her eyes, making her fidget uncomfortably. Attempting to avoid his gaze, she looked back up the starry sky they were once admiring. To her complete and total surprise (well, maybe not), Hidan placed a hand on her chin and turned her face back to him.

"So…you say you gave this weird, screwed up gaze to some other guy before?" He asked after a moment of silence. Tenten sighed in frustration.

"We're back on this subject again?" She asked with a roll of her eyes.

"Well, I, for one, didn't want to abandon it in the first place but you fucking distracted me and made me kiss you!" He said with a huff. Glaring at him, she bit her lip in aggravation.

"I _made_ you do nothing! I simply asked you to kiss me and you did!" She said, her brow furrowing. Hidan chuckled and shifted his weight so that he was propped up on his left elbow. Tenten, following his movements, shifted onto her back and propped herself up with both of her elbows.

"Whatever, it doesn't really matter anyways," Hidan said, for once choosing to end their bickering than letting it draw out into a fistfight, "So are you going to answer my question or not, damnit!"

Tenten looked at him for a moment in confusion, apparently having forgot what started the argument in the first place, before realization dawned and she let out a sigh of resignation.

"Yes…I think I had it for a boy before, he was on my Genin squad and we remained on a team all the way through to when he became a Jounin," she said reminiscently. For a moment a flash of something passed through Hidan's eyes before they settled again in their usual violet color.

"Hm, I see…I think I figured out what the look is," Hidan said lazily, not sounding very excited about the piece of information.

"Err…well, what do you think it is?" Tenten asked tentatively, staring up at him. She wasn't sure if he actually figured it out, but she still kind of wanted to hear what he had to say.

"Well, I'm going to have to talk it over with Jashin-sama, but I think we might like each other a little bit, you know instead of completely loathing the other's existence. Don't get me wrong, Panda, I don't think it's serious but I think we might be actually able to work together as a team instead of flailing on the field like fucks as you so demonstrated yesterday while training," he said with a smirk plastered on his pale face as he stared into her chocolate brown orbs. Tenten raised a thin eyebrow at him, a grimace on her face.

"Well, thanks to your deductive skills, Sherlock Holmes, I think we can all go on with our lives, knowing that we will not be flailing on the field like fucks," she said as she rolled her eyes and let her elbows straighten out. She fell onto on the wooden dock on her back with a small grunt. Hidan used this opportunity to drape his left arm onto the other side of her body so that he was leaning over her. She just continued to stare at him incredulously, her back flat on the dock.

"Well, like I said, I'm not one-hundred percent positive on this, I still have to talk to Jashin-sama…we still might get the opportunity to flail like fucks," he said as he smirked down at her grimacing face.

"Whatever…" She said as she closed her eyes to rid herself of the image of his smirk. A few minutes later, Tenten felt herself being picked up. Her eyes immediately flying open, she saw a still smirking Hidan holding her bridal style.

"What exactly are you doing?" She asked, trying to remain calm.

"Well, I'd really like to say that I'm carrying you back to our room because you were such a good little girl but, alas, I cannot have that satisfaction," he said as he walked the rest of the way down the dock so that he was standing on the water's edge.

"Then what are you really doing?" She asked, beginning to panic now that they were so close to the water's edge.

"Well, since you got a little bit lippy with me…I'm throwing you in the freezing, midnight water," he said bluntly as he prepared to throw her in. At the last second, she latched her arms around his neck in a last minute resort to save herself. This ended up surprising Hidan and throwing him off balance, causing them both to fall forward in the freezing water. They both came up seconds later, treading water. Tenten immediately burst into laughter upon seeing Hidan's usually perfectly slicked back hair falling around his pale face from the water.

"You know what, Panda, I resent that," he said as he swam over to her and pushed her under for a moment.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," she said once she was fully above the water again.

_I see hell in your eyes _

_Taken in by surprise _

_Touching you makes me feel alive _

_Touching you makes me die inside_

_From Slept So Long by Jay Gordon of Orgy_

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**A/N: Well I think I better leave it at that. I was going to write some Itachi and Sakura stuff but it ended up already being to long. I wasn't planning on the mission portion to last so long but I kept finding stuff that I wanted to add in there cause I thought it sounded good. Oh well, I guess I'll have to dedicate the majority of the next chapter to them. By the way, everyone, right now I'm celebrating because my beta reader, Muu, has finally returned from the dead!!**

**Read and review if you can read it than you can review it!!**

_P.S: If you have any suggestions as to what you would like to see happen in this story, I will take your ideas into account. If I like them, then they will be in the story, I promise!!_


	10. Times Change

**A/N: Woo!! I am back!! I bet you're all so very happy to hear from me again…at least I hope so…Anyways, if you were wondering where I wandered off to, I was at band camp. Yes, band camp, I know it sounds kind of queer but I love my band!! It's awesome…I'm such a band-o. Anyways, if any of you really care, I posted the one-shot that I wrote for my lovely reviewer Bleeding-lily. I hope you enjoy it Lily-chan!! Oh, and if you haven't already seen the awesome fan art that shilhouette68 made for me, I advise you all to go and check it out, it's absolutely beautiful! The link is at the bottom of my profile, so go forth and enjoy! Okay, like my newfound friend, narutardedbandgeek, always says, I really need to stop babbling. Enjoy this update, y'all.**

**This chapter is dedicated to David, for being a great boyfriend and sticking with me, Mike and Kyle, for being awesome friends and helping me through almost everything, Ali, for always knowing what to say, Bleeding-lily, for being the coolest reviewer EVER, shilhouette68, for making me that amazing piece of fan art, FreeFallJumper, for being a large inspiration to me, He-Yan, for reviewing almost every single chapter and just now getting into my story, and narutardedbandgeek, for loving me and my stories.**

**Inspiration Music: Alone I Break by Korn (for Sakura and Itachi), Leave Out All The Rest by Linkin Park (for Sakura), Seize The Day by Avenged Sevenfold (I warn you now this will probably be on the list several times…cause I love it and it fits very well with this story), Darkness by Disturbed (for Sakura…man, it's weird dedicating chapters to her…), and Angels by Within Temptation (for Sasuke and Sakura, cause it just sounds like their song…). Oh, and A.D.I.D.A.S by Korn (for anyone in this story that seems to dream about sex all day XD)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto –insert witty banter here-.**

* * *

_Chapter 11: Times Change_

_Now I see the times they change _

_Leaving doesn't seem so strange _

_I am hoping I can find _

_Where to leave my hurt behind _

_All the shit I seem to take _

_All alone I seem to break _

_I have lived the best I can_

_From Alone I Break by Korn_

Sakura stood in front of the kitchen counter humming a slightly happy tune while diligently cutting up some apple slices for her and Itachi to eat. A few moments prior, they had both awoken for some strange reason and instead of going back to sleep she offered to grab them both a snack and something to drink while they either talked or sat and stared at the wall. Continuing with her tune, she sliced the kitchen knife through yet another of the red apples sitting in a small bowel off to the side. She seriously wondered where they got all their food from…did they have to steal it? Better yet, did they raid an old woman's house every so often looking for the bounty of their pleasure? The simple thought drove Sakura into a large fit of giggles. I mean imagining Akatsuki raiding an old lady's house was just a hysterical idea. Through her giggles, she didn't hear the door leading to the dining room softly open. Dragging footsteps sounded closer to the still laughing girl and finally when they were right behind her she noticed the new person in the room. Being a kunoichi, she jumped and flung around to face the intruder, ready to fight if need be.

Blinking once, she stared at the newcomer in somewhat shock before settling back into an informal stance and giving the figure a warm smile.

"Hey, Ino-chan, what's with the long face? I didn't expect to see you until tomorrow afternoon because of the mission," Sakura said while turning around and placing the apple slices into a small, plastic bowel. Ino came up beside her and jumped up onto the counter, sitting on the tiled countertop. Sakura only then began to notice her friends' outward appearance. There were small twigs sticking up out of her usually tamed and perfect blonde hair and clothing. Flyways were framing Ino's unusually pale face while her now dull blue eyes were downcast, staring at her long, slender fingers, which were folded in her lap. After examining Ino, Sakura could safely deduce that whatever happened to her on that mission must have either been hell or something extremely close to it.

"Well, we sort of got out of there as soon as we possibly could…let's just say the mission wasn't very fun," Ino said in a low voice, making the usually vibrant girl seem distant and depressing. Sakura gave her friend a concerned gaze before turning her attention back to the task at hand: finding something to drink for Itachi and herself.

"Hm…what exactly did Leader-sama make you guys do?" She asked, trying to find out as much information as she possibly could without seeming like she was prying or down talking her; Ino really hated when she down talked her. Ino glanced up at the pink haired kunoichi for a moment before casting her eyes to the side with a small sigh.

"He…he…he told us to go to…Konoha," Ino replied simply, still in the low, depressing tone. Immediately after the words left her mouth, Sakura dropped the glass she was carrying and it fell with a smash on the tiled floor. Looking down at the shattered glass, the rosette kunoichi knelt to begin cleaning the mess.

"O-Oh…he did…and what happened while you were there?" Sakura asked shakily while picking up jagged pieces of glass, not really caring if they cut into her skin. Ino began to strum her fingers on the countertop, a habit of nervousness.

"Well…we had to steal a book from Tsunade-sama's library on the bijuu. And…I met up with Shikamaru and Chouji while we were trying to escape," Ino said, her voice gaining a little bit of confidence, though not enough for her gaping friend to notice. Sakura nodded slowly, showing she understood although her eyes were still wide with shock. Picking up the last of the shattered shards of glass, she stood and walked slowly and carefully over to the trashcan. Dumping what could have been a safety hazard into the trash, she walked over to where the cabinets were and pulled out two more glasses.

"What happened when you saw them…from the looks of it, it wasn't something good," she said as she began to search the fridge for something her and her roommate could drink. The initial shock of the news was settling into more of a worry for what happened to her friend so she was beginning to outwardly calm herself. Glancing at the mass of drinks the Akatsuki had to drink, her thoughts momentarily drifted back to the thought of the group of S-class criminals stealing from old woman. Ignoring her need to laugh at the thought, she glanced curiously at the container labeled apple juice and completely passed it up altogether. Who drank apple juice while eating apples, apple cider maybe, but never apple juice? Looking at the rest of the contents of the refrigerator, she sighed and decided water was the best option.

"Well…I told them a giant lie and they acted like they hated me and then I threw a smoke bomb down and escaped out of there. Then, as though that weren't enough, Shikamaru ended up catching up to me just as I was about to escape and trapping me in the Kage Mane. I wanted to cry, especially since after that he brought us together and almost kissed me…well, he would have if Deidara-kun hadn't blown up the tree we were standing on and got me the hell out of there…I'm almost positive they hate my guts by now," she explained softly while Sakura filled the two glasses with ice and tap water. Sakura listened to her friends' explanation intently until she called Deidara, Deidara-kun. Then, her mind began to drift elsewhere.

_'Deidara-kun? Since when does Ino call him Deidara-kun? I mean I know he calls her Ino-chan but her giving him a term of endearment just doesn't seem right. Where have I been? I'm not stupid, I've seen the looks Hidan and Tenten give each other when we have meals…and now Ino and Deidara! Where the hell have I been!!'_

"Hello! Earth to Sakura!" Ino shouted as she waved a hand in front of her friends face. She had jumped off the counter when she noticed her friends dazed out look, meaning she was most likely not paying attention. Finally, Sakura seemed to snap out of her trance and shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"Huh? What? What'd I miss?" She asked sounding slightly retarded. Ino groaned in frustration and rolled her eyes.

"Never mind, Forehead Girl, I'm going to sleep it's like three in the morning anyways," she said angrily before stomping out of the kitchen, heading to her room. Sakura watched her go with a grimace on her face before picking up the bowel of apples and the two glasses of water (somehow) and walking out of the kitchen herself.

"Where the hell have I been?" She muttered to herself as she left the dining room.

* * *

Itachi was sitting silently in his bed, reading a book about some Jutsu he already knew when Sakura walked in slightly struggling with the bowel of apples, two glasses of water, and the doorknob. He sighed before setting his book down and walking over to where she was fighting with the doorknob and taking the glasses so she could easily make it through the door. Sakura smiled gratuitously while she shoved open the door with her shoulder and walked over to their shared bed and set down the bowel in the middle so they could share. She then proceeded to take a seat in front of the slices on the black comforter while Itachi set their ice water down on the nightstand and sat across from her.

"What took you so long?" He asked after a short pause so that he could eat one of the apples. Sakura looked up from her own slice with a curious expression on her face.

"Huh? Oh, well Ino came in and we talked for a little bit before she got kind of mad at me for zoning out and walking away," she said with a casual shrug of her shoulders. Though she still feared the Mangekyou master, she couldn't help but feel a little more comfortable around him seeing as they had spent the last days together. He didn't respond, just nodded his head in understanding and took a sip of his water. Sakura took the silence as a moment to think about her blonde friends predicament.

_'She must have felt so weak when Shikamaru did that to her…I remember sparring with him and feeling so powerless when he used that trick on me, it's almost like his trump card, unless, of course, he's low on Chakra. Shikamaru was Ino's teammate, which means she knows more about him than anyone…well, besides his parents of course. I could tell from her expression she felt weak around him and Chouji…her and I always did have a lot in common. Our teammates were always so far ahead of us and no matter how hard we worked, they worked harder, it's almost like a never-ending cycle. I eventually grew out of watching Naruto and Sasuke's backs, I grew strong in my own way…but I wonder if she ever did. Was she ever able to catch up to them? I hope so…'_ she thought to herself while nibbling absentmindedly on an apple slice. Still thinking on the subject she glanced up at her partner only to find him reading a book. She sighed and glanced back down at the midnight black comforter.

_'I wonder if Itachi ever felt weak…he always seems so strong and unafraid but what about when he was Genin…didn't he feel at least a little bit weak then? I'll have to ask him,'_ she thought as she finally finished her apple slice and took another.

"Hey, Itachi-san…has there ever been a moment when you felt weak?" She asked him tentatively; afraid he would kill her for even thinking he would feel inferior to others. Itachi glanced at Sakura, letting her know she had his attention before taking another sip of ice water.

"Feeling weak or inferior against someone is somewhat of a thing that I have been trying to erase from my mind," he said simply in his deep, rich, emotionless voice. Sakura nodded; it was more than she was expecting she would hear.

"I see, so I take it that means you believe emotions make you weak?" She asked while grabbing her ice water from the nightstand and lazily twirling a piece of ice in the glass. Itachi looked up at her, staring into her sea foam green eyes.

"Yes, I believe that because it is true," he said as she looked up and returned his stare. For a reason Sakura couldn't quite identify, that fact made her angry. It felt as though someone had just kicked her in the gut and yet she couldn't figure out why.

"So that means you wouldn't give a damn if anyone cared about you, doesn't it?" She asked quietly, anger itching in her voice as she glared at him. Outside of their room, a cackle of thunder tore through the night. A silence fell over the two and now the only sound inside the room was the racket of the growing storm that was outside their window.

"In a sense, yes, that is what it would mean, Sakura-san. Are you implying that someone does indeed care about me?" Itachi finally said, sounding just as collected as he was before the silence. The anger in Sakura immediately fled her body when he spoke, leaving room for the shock to set in.

'Why did I get so mad in the first place?' She questioned herself as she stared silently into Itachi's blood red Sharingan. A hint of a smirk grew on Itachi's lips as he stared at Sakura's shocked expression.

"Uh…Well, I don't know…maybe someone does," she said shakily, trying to control her speech. Another pause filled the air between the two, letting them hear the thunder that rocked the Akatsuki headquarters.

"I can not seem to fathom that idea Sakura-san. I seem to remember killing every person who would at this point care about me," Itachi said after a few moments, the smirk still growing. Sakura opened her mouth to say something but found her mouth forming words that weren't even in her brain at the moment.

"Not everyone," she said as the rain outside began to pound against the windowpanes. Itachi blinked once before looking away from Sakura, breaking whatever trance the room had been put under. Sakura also began to blink, trying to think of the reason she even said that.

_'I need to get my mind together…this man killed Sasuke-kun's family and made Sasuke-kun run away from the village…I should hate this man…I should despise this man…then…why don't I?'_

* * *

Ino awoke to the crash of thunder, sending her flying out of the bed and sprawling on the floor. She tousled her blonde hair as she fixed herself and sat up; trying to find the ponytail she had knocked off the nightstand. Suddenly, a hand appeared in her vision with the object of her search between the thumb and forefinger. She grabbed the black ponytail and stood up, looking into the lone eye of Deidara. His eye was crinkled into somewhat of a smile, probably enjoying her predicament…stupid bastard.

"Well thank you prince charming, I hope the hair tie fits me perfectly so we can go off into the distance, have a beautiful wedding with white roses strewn all over the place, and then finally live happily ever after with the most amazing children the world has ever seen," she said sarcastically as she grabbed the ponytail and sat back down on the bed with a huff. Deidara let a chuckle escape his lips as he leaned back so he was next to her instead of leaning over her.

"Yes, of course Ino-chan and it will truly be happily ever after, un," he said as Ino began to fix her hair, putting it into its usual style. She rolled her eyes at his response as she finished redoing her hair.

"Whatever Deidara-kun. Anyways, what time is it now?" She asked absentmindedly as she lay back down to go back to sleep. Deidara turned his head to check the digital clock sitting on the nightstand. The red numbers blinked 3:30 and he sighed.

"I'm not sure, the storm must have cut the power and the clock stopped at the 3:30, un," he said as he also lay down to get more needed rest. Ino simply muttered an incoherent response before they both fell into a deep sleep, still exhausted from their mission.

* * *

Tenten groggily rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she sat at the breakfast table, staring blankly at the empty plate before her. The current moment consisted of everyone at the table blankly staring at anything but each other. Perhaps it was too awkward between friends to share glances or perhaps everyone was way too tired to focus on anything at all.

Of course, Tenten and Hidan hadn't gotten in until around 3:15 that morning. With both of them soaked to the bone, not only from the pond but also from the pounding rain that fell upon their skin, they quickly ran back to their room so they could shower and change. Well that had taken up at least an hour so they didn't get to sleep until around 4:30 because fifteen minutes was spent arguing over something that Tenten's current space of mind couldn't quite remember. Then, four hours later, they were forced to drag their sorry asses from the warmth of the bed and get to breakfast…If only Kakuzu hadn't decided to come and check on them to make sure they woke up. Tenten was glad that they weren't the only ones that looked worse for wear; even Itachi looked a little sleep deprived. Actually, the only two in the room at the moment that looked somewhat awake was Kisame and Tobi, and that was only because Kisame had a decent night sleep while Tobi was always that way. She was pretty sure Kakuzu felt awake but she could never tell with the way he wore his mask so she ignored that fact.

"Where the hell are Deidara and Mini D! I want to actually eat something this morning!" Hidan all but shouted as he slammed a fist on the table, reminding Tenten somewhat of an angry child. Itachi glanced over at Hidan but simply shook his head and turned back to the hushed conversation Kisame and him were having. At the other end of the table Tobi jumped at the opportunity to answer a question he actually had the answer for.

"Well, last night Deidara-senpai, Ino-chan, and I made it in late and since the power went out they didn't know what time it was so they fell back asleep when they woke up around ten minutes ago," Tobi said somewhat proudly, seeing as he actually provided some knowledge. The rest of the group stared at him in silent amazement, all of them wondering how the hell he learned that. Tobi just continued smiling happily at the group, only angering most of them.

"Tobi…how the hell…you know what, never mind, I don't even really want to know," Kisame said dismissively with a shake of his shark like head. Everyone else seemed to agree to his plan, and turned away with a dismissive air.

"I say we just eat the food without them," Hidan said while staring at his empty plate. Tenten sighed and shook her head at his opinion but didn't say anything aloud. At the head of the table, Itachi shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head.

"Alright…they had a mission yesterday after all and according to Sakura-san they got in very late…we shall let them sleep and miss out on breakfast," he said like he was the leader of the group. The rest of them all stared his in shock, not really able to believe he was being reasonable. Just as they were all getting ready to enjoy their breakfast, the door to the dining room opened rather loudly. Everyone inside the room gaped at the person standing there, while the person just grimaced back at them.

"Itachi, Hidan, the Leader-sama wants to see us…now, un," Deidara said groggily, his mind still cloudy from sleep. Itachi nodded once before standing and walking out of the dining room, while Hidan let out some colorful language and followed him. Nodding once to the rest of the occupants left in the room, Deidara closed the door and followed the other two down the hallway.

Sakura looked at Tenten only to find her weapons loving friend staring at the dining room door with concern. The rosette kunoichi sighed and began to pick at her breakfast, wondering to herself what the sudden meeting was about.

'_Probably something I really don't want to know about…'_ she thought to herself as she watched Tenten finally turn away from the door and begin to stare at her empty plate once more.

* * *

Deidara grumbled incoherently under his breath as him and his comrades walked into the small cabin where most meetings took place. The three kneeled on the pillows designated for them and began to wait for the appearance of their Leader-sama. After a few short moments, the blurred image of the leader appeared before them.

"Deidara, Itachi, Hidan…I'm glad you all could make it," the projection said, initiating the meeting. All of them gave their individual responses, and the leader nodded in earnest.

"My sincere apologies for dragging you away from breakfast…or sleep, whichever the case may be but I needed to inform you on exactly what we are going to do with those girls," the Leader-sama said, causing the three before him to gain immediate interest in the conversation.

"Yes, and what exactly is it we are going to do?" Hidan asked, being the more impolite out of the three. Leader-sama simply smirked and dismissed the rudeness.

"It may seem pointless at the moment…but for the purposes of this venture it is a needed step. First of all, Hidan, you and your team are to go on a mission, the details of which will all be untrue. Then, while you are gone I shall deal with both Sakura-san and Ino-san, respectively, giving you the chance to either say your goodbyes to Tenten-san or to simply leave her, that will be your choice. Afterwards, I will proceed to take care of Tenten-san. No, I am not going to kill them if that is what you were thinking…merely…erasing all memories and remembrances from the past two weeks that they were with us." At this point in the discussion, the leader paused to let the information set in to the three members of his organization. Itachi was the first to recover from the initial curiosity on the matter.

"I apologize Leader-sama, but I do not see the point in simply erasing memories from them, when it would be a much easier task to kill them," he said monotonously. Deidara immediately turned to Itachi in anger mixed with shock but kept his opinions of the Mangekyou master remain inside of his mind. The leader turned his gaze to Itachi slowly, the smirk on his face staying firmly in place.

"As I said…this step of the plan may seem pointless at the moment but it is necessary. Now, it is to be expected that they will most likely try and go to the place that they remember most in their minds, which is most likely going to be Konoha…we will not stop them from getting back, yet simply monitor them to make sure they do not stray off the path and go somewhere unpleasant. You may see this as odd…which I'm sure probably bothers you on some level seeing as the three of you have over analytical minds but try to ignore my reasoning's for this and move along with the plan," Leader-sama said in his firm, commanding voice. Itachi nodded respectfully, Deidara simply looked at the floor as though in shame with only a small nod of his head to show he was listening, while Hidan grimaced and nodded begrudgingly.

"Now that you understand, I will allow you to spend the last day you have with the girls in somewhat peace. Hidan, I want you to inform Kakuzu of the plan and I want you, Kakuzu, and Tenten to report to me directly after breakfast. As for Deidara and Itachi, good luck keeping Sakura and Ino preoccupied tomorrow. Dismissed," the Leader said, officially ending the meeting. The three members stood and quickly exited the building in varying forms of distress. The Leader stared at the door to the cabin for a moment before a low chuckle erupted from his lips.

"All is well…the pawns of my game are all responding as I hoped they would…little do they know…this test, isn't as simple as any written exam…but more like, a test of insanity," he said before his projection faded out of existence and the room was left silent and shadowed in darkness.

_You took my heart, _

_deceived me right from the start. _

_You showed me dreams, _

_I wished they would turn into real. _

_You broke the promise and made me realize. _

_It was all just a lie. _

_Could have been forever. _

_Now we have reached the end._

_From Angels by Within Temptation_

* * *

**A/N: Well, I personally didn't really like this chapter…I had major writers block during most of it so that's why it took me so long to get up. I hope I still have people willing to read this story…seeing as this one is starting to reach a closing point. But don't fear my loyal readers, there will be a sequel since I already have one planned out. Anyways, I hope you guys liked that one better than I did, happy reading!**

**Read and review if you can read it, you can review it.**


	11. Never Ending Kiss

**A/N: Contrary to popular belief, I am alive. You know what that means…PARTY!! Just kidding. Anyways, I really hope you guys like this chapter cause it's the second to last one! Seriously…this story is approaching an ending very quickly. Proof is in the purchase, this chapter is insanely long. Well, maybe not insanely long…but long for me…Oh well, celebrate the coming of my sequel!! Oh, if you're still looking to see some awesome fan art, shilhouette68 remade her fan art and is also at the bottom of my profile so respect her and take a look!**

**This chapter is dedicated to my amazing boyfriend, Kyle, for everything he is to me, Mike and Ali, for being my best friends, being there for me through everything and always knowing what to say, FreeFallJumper, for being an awesome reviewer and inspiring me, and shilhouette68, for also being an awesome reviewer and remaking that fan art even though it was perfect to begin with.**

**Inspiration Music: Kiss by Korn (for all the main characters in this story), Pain by Three Days Grace (for Tenten and Hidan), Freak On A Leash by Korn (for all main characters), and Dying In Your Arms by Trivium (for all main characters).**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. –Insert witty banter-**

_

* * *

_

_What do I have to do?_

_Why can't this hurt be through?_

_I'm going head onto_

_something I know I will fail._

_Why can't this kiss be true?_

_Why won't you, please, let me through?_

_I don't understand why you always push me away. _

_From Kiss by Korn_

Tenten groaned slightly as the sun streaming through the window rested on her face, making it difficult to sleep. Becoming too annoyed to sleep, she threw the comforter off her body and dragged herself to the bathroom. Since not much had happened the day before (and she was too lazy), she decided to skip taking a shower. Instead, she turned on some cold water-using sink and splashed it onto her sleep-deprived countenance. Slightly rejuvenated, she threw her thick, brown hair into her traditional buns before stepping back out into the room. Having slept in her usual clothes the night before, she felt a little uncomfortable. Glancing at Hidan to make sure he was completely asleep, Tenten slipped out of her makeshift pajamas and into some fresh, clean clothing. As she was sifting through her bag, her hand brushed by the cold, metal bottle of sulfuric acid. She sighed as she remembered her plans for later this afternoon. While Hidan, Itachi, and Deidara were at their meeting with the leader, the girls decided to have a short meeting themselves. The girls met with each other immediately after breakfast in the common area, as they had decided to dub it.

The meeting in general proceeded with them making a plan of escape. At first Tenten and Ino had begun with listing off things that every one of them knew wouldn't work and Sakura sat in silence shaking her head politely. When it had finally seemed as though all hope was lost, Sakura shot up with her eyes alight with an idea. Tenten and Ino listened thoroughly to their rosette friend and when she had finished describing her idea in detail, they both nodded enthusiastically fully believing that her idea would work. Now, the only flaw they held in the plan was figuring out when they were going to be able to pull it off.

Putting the thoughts of escape behind her, Tenten looked again at the lump of blankets that she knew to be Hidan. She also knew with certainty that she should wake him up but to be truthful, she feared waking him and what waking him very well could do to her physical well being. So, putting forth every ounce of her bravery, she tapped Hidan lightly on the leg. Not expecting the reaction that followed her eyes widened when his hand shot out of the blankets and grabbed her finger roughly. Just as angrily, he pulled her towards him, almost ripping her finger from the socket. The startled kunoichi landed next to him on his left in little more than a heap.

"I was wondering when you would find the bravery to wake me up, Panda," Hidan said as he opened his eyes, his piercing gaze directed at her. Wrenching her finger from his now loose grip, she shook slightly in pain as she coddled her bruising digit. Rolling his eyes, he stood and walked over to his chest of drawers and pulled out fresh clothing for the day before crossing the room to the bathroom.

"You are such a fucking pansy, Panda," he said as he closed the wooden door to the bathroom. Tenten scowled at the place where he had formerly been standing before rolling off the bed. With a sigh, she yelled to Hidan that she was heading down to breakfast. Hearing nothing but a grunt in reply, she walked out into the hallway. When she had made it barely halfway down the hallway, Ino burst out of a room on her right, dragging her inside. After the initial shock of the incident wore off, Tenten glanced around the room and found that the only occupants of the living area was herself, Ino, and Sakura, who was sitting silently on the two-person bed appearing to be thinking deeply about something.

"Uh, what the hell is going on?" Tenten asked, quite intelligently. Sakura snapped out of her thinking and looked at Tenten, a small smile adorning her features.

"Well, I think I know what we're going to have to do about our little flaw," Sakura replied. Tenten's brow furrowed as she thought about the numerous things that Sakura could be thinking about. When the rosette didn't answer, Tenten voiced her confusion.

"And what is this magical solution?" Tenten asked getting irritated that Ino and Sakura seemed so much more knowing than she did.

"Well, Deidara told me this morning that Leader-sama planned a mission for you, Hidan, and Kakuzu. So, when I told Sakura that…well…we sort of…decided on something," Ino said, finally voicing part of the answer. Becoming even more irritated, Tenten raised her voice slightly.

"Decided on what?" She asked, getting fed up with the secret they were keeping from her. Ino looked to the ground, as though in shame, while Sakura simply sighed and gave Tenten a very grave look.

"Well, we've decided that while you're out on your mission…since you'll be already half free to do most of what you want…you're going to use the sulfuric acid on your necklace, and escape…without us…" Sakura said in a very low, eerie tone. A chill crept up Tenten's spine at the thought of leaving her friends behind in this small Hell.

"What? Are you kidding me? You've gone absolutely, craving mad if you think I'm leaving you behind!" She shouted, her features contorting into a look of fury and absolute terror.

"Listen, Tenten…you must…and when you arrive back at the village tell Tsunade-sama about our predicament so she can organize a rescue team for Ino and me," said the brave rosette kunoichi. Tenten shook her head, tears beginning to well in the corner of her eyes.

"Please Tenten, it might be the only way," Ino said placing a comforting hand on the brunettes shoulder. Tenten blearily looked into the cerulean eyes of one of her closest friends and knew in her heart that she was right. Shakily, the brunette nodded her head in agreement. Immediately, a smile grew on the blondes face as she wrapped her arms around her shaking friend.

"Alright! Let's get this party started then!" Ino shouted as she pumped one of her fists into the air, keeping her other arm secured around Tenten's waist. Worming out of her friends grasp, the weapons mistress smiled sadly at Sakura before turning away from the two of them.

"I promised Hidan I would be down at breakfast. Just don't forget that I only agreed to this because I can still come back and find you guys…and I swear on all that I am that I will find a way to save you guys," she said in a low voice before slowly opening the door and exiting the room leaving her bewildered friends behind.

* * *

Tenten stared solemnly at her simple breakfast that consisted of a lone apple sitting on an otherwise empty plate. Closing her eyes as tears threatened to fall, she grabbed the apple angrily and took a nibble out of it. Watching her actions in silence, Hidan pondered over what could be bothering the usually brave, brunette kunoichi. Of course, he told himself that he really didn't care and turned away from her, though every once in a while he'd subconsciously glance at her figure out of the corner of his eye. 

Ino smiled warily at Tenten when the brunette finally decided to look her way. In return the blonde received a worried look along with eyes filled with tears. Again the weapons lover turned away and took a nibble from her apple. Just as Ino was about to make a comment on her behavior to lighten the mood, Kakuzu walked casually through the dining room door and made an announcement.

"Hidan…Tenten, Leader-sama would like to see us now," he said before bowing his head and leaving the room just as an awkward silence fell over the group present. Hidan broke the silence as his chair scraped against the tiled floor as he stood. Tenten jumped slightly at the movement but quickly recovered and stood next to him.

"Well assholes and idiots alike, we'll be seeing you around!" Hidan said as he made his exit. Tenten, on the hand, turned around and gave the room a last sweeping glance pausing only on the forms of Sakura and Ino.

"Goodbye guys," she said, her eyes filling once more with unbidden tears before she turned away; she left the room and her friends behind.

Hidan quickly matched Kakuzu's long strides as he walked beside his original partner. The silence between them wasn't exactly awkward but it wasn't comfortable either, just something in the middle that neither of them could probably define. The relationship between the two immortals was something most of the Akatsuki preferred not to get in the middle of simply because it was more complicated than any of them were ready to deal with. On one hand, you had Hidan, an immortal man that held religion in higher regards than his life or the life of any others for that matter. On the other hand, you had Kakuzu, also an immortal man but he differed from Hidan in that he regarded money as the supreme deity instead of an omnipotent being. The simple differences they had had been enough to throw their equators entirely off balance when they were together and ever was it rare to find a time when the two weren't arguing.

"So, I take it Leader-sama told you what the hell was going on?" Hidan asked the masked man beside him. His answer was a simple nod and Hidan took that as enough and continued to walk until he felt a small tug on his shirt. Glancing to his right, he saw Tenten walking along beside him a sad smile enveloping her countenance.

Kakuzu and Hidan had a very complicated relationship but at least it was plain to see why the two disliked each other but the relationship harbored between Tenten and Hidan was something completely different. Tentens personality clashed with Hidans worse than Kakuzus and yet the two still found a way to become romantically involved. The small brunette was brave, strong, and the most important difference between her and Hidan was, in fact, that she harbored no outward hate toward the world around her. In the case of the beautiful brunette and the stoic religionist, opposites truly did attract.

"Panda…you look like a dying cocker spaniel," Hidan said with a patented Hidan smirk plastered onto his face. Kakuzu rolled his eyes and walked quicker to get away from the two. Tenten scowled and turned her head away from the scythe-wielding maniac that is until she was clothes lined by a certain religious man. Picking herself up from the ground, she glared at him and found the trio standing before the small cabin that had haunted her nightmares since the first time she had set foot inside the building. Taking in a deep breath she resentfully took a step forward. Hidan quickly followed her and Kakuzu trailed behind them.

Taking their usual seats on the pillows set up for them, they awaited the arrival of Leader-samas projection. Luckily for the three impatient shinobi the Leader quickly arrived.

"Hello Hidan, Kakuzu, Tenten," he said nodding to each of them respectively, "I have decided to give you a mission that will require your battle skills. Today you are to begin the searching process of finding for me the five-tailed legendary demon. Using the book that Ino retrieved for me, I have learned that this demon shouldn't be too complicated to over power meaning it will make a perfect little test for Tenten to demonstrate her skills."

'Basically a search and destroy mission,' Tenten thought to herself, 'Good, that gives me plenty of time to go through with this plan of ours.'

"Now this demon is supposedly attracted to water, so I would suggest you travel through the Land of Fire to get to Mizugakure by the ocean," Leader began, "You are to depart directly after this meeting, only pausing to gather your shinobi equipment. Dismissed!"

Following his command, the Leader dissipated into nothingness leaving the three-man team alone.

* * *

Deidara walked silently through the night, Ino following close on his heels. The day, after Team Kakuzu had left, had passed quicker than Deidara would have liked. This was, after all, the last time he was going to be able to spend time with the beautiful blonde that was behind him. On a whim, he had decided that he should take her out for the night, making it easier for him to ditch her when the Leader gave the signal. The leaves on the trees bristled as the wind shifted, making goose bumps appear on the pyrotechnic shinobis arm. Deidara inconspicuously fed some clay to the mouth on his right hand. 

"Deidara-kun, where the hell are we going?" Ino asked getting aggravated with her partner's silence. Deidara shifted to look at her and flashed her a smirk.

"Don't worry Ino-chan we're just going for a little ride, un," he said as he pushed aside some bramble to get through. Stepping over a small log, he led the pair into a relatively open clearing.

"A ride? A ride on what?" She asked, not understanding his particular words of choice. Deidara finally came to a stop in what appeared to be the middle of the clearing.

"Oh nothing special, un," he said as the mouth on his hand spit the chewed up clay into his hand for molding. The bomb artist molded the lump into a perfect bird and placed it lightly onto the ground before the duo. Making a few hand signs and regulating his chakra flow just right, he watched as the small clay figurine became large enough for two people to fit on.

"…We're riding on that thing?" Ino asked incredulously. Deidara didn't reply, but simply placed his hand on the small of her back and led her closer to the bird. Silently complying with his request, she climbed on top of the clay figure.

"So, we're sure this thing will carry us both?" She asked staring down at the back of the creature with doubt.

"Well, of course it will. Not only will it carry us but it's also going to fly us, un," he said as he climbed in front of her on the bird. At the mention of flight, Ino immediately stopped and let her eyes grow to the size of saucers.

"F-Fly…Um you're kidding right?" Ino asked when he was securely placed and ready to take off.

"Uh no…is that a problem Ino-chan?" Deidara asked, concern lacing his voice.

"Not really…I'm just a little afraid of heights I guess," she said as she averted her eyes to the side so he couldn't see how bad the thought of flying scared her.

"Hey, Ino-chan, don't worry…the ground will catch you, un," he said sarcastically and without warning somehow communicated to the creature that it was to fly and took off. Ino let out an ear-piercing scream as they lifted higher from the ground and was promptly shut up by her blonde counterpart with a hand over her mouth.

"You could have warned me you asshole!" She shouted over the sound of the wind rushing past their ears. Deidara smirked and took his hand away from her mouth using that hand and wrapping it around her waist.

"Don't worry Ino-chan…I wouldn't let you fall, un," he said in a whispery tone, letting his voice carry over the wind so only she could hear him. A blush crept onto her cheeks at the statement before she wrapped her arms around the man in front of her.

"Deidara-kun, where are we going?" She asked into his ear softly, sending shivers down the artists back. When the words of the question set in, tears began to well up in the corners of his eyes. He knew the answer and he wanted to lie to her so she could remain blissfully unaware of the betrayal he was about to commit. Instead, he pulled her closer and rubbed her back soothingly, nuzzling his nose into her hair.

"We're going home, Ino-chan," he whispered into her hair. The statement puzzled the blonde kunoichi but what bewildered her more were the warm teardrops falling onto her shoulder. Laying her head onto his shoulder, she began to massage his back enjoying the warmth he provided her in the cold darkness.

"Deidara-kun, why are you crying?" She asked, as she closed her eyes, not really minding that the bird seemed to have a mind of its own. She vaguely felt his hand move up her back towards her neck but mostly ignored it. A small smile crept onto her face as the memories of her time spent with the blonde pyromaniac rushed into her mind. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion when he laid a heavy hand on her neck and her question remained unanswered. Suddenly, his breathing hitched and he applied pressure to the pressure point on her neck, just like the very day they met. Instantaneously, Ino's consciousness faded and the last thing she heard was the answer to her simple question.

"Because Ino-chan…I love you," he said as his last teardrops fell onto her face.

* * *

Sakura dragged her feet down the corridor towards the room she shared with Uchiha Itachi. To be honest, she hadn't shared that many 'moments' with the stoic Uchiha as she had thought. It was almost like he avoided her at any cost possible so the two couldn't become close. Not to say that Sakura minded his absence, actually, she loathed the Mangekyou master with everything that she was and it was all for the 'love' she had for Uchiha Sasuke. But she had to admit to herself that at times sitting alone in a small room by yourself could be a very tenuous activity. With these thoughts plaguing her mind, she continued down the hall in silence knowing in the back of her mind that Itachi wasn't going to be there waiting for her. 

Her feet made hollow sounds on the tiled floor as she traveled silently. She stopped for a moment in front of her door, her hand hovering over the knob precariously. With a sigh, she placed her warm hand onto the cold metal and pushed the door open. Subconsciously scratching her face, Sakura reached over and flipped the light switch on. Gasping, she jumped slightly into the air when she noticed the man sitting alone at the end of her bed.

Without even a casual glance at her, Itachi spoke. "You disappeared after dinner." His silky voice rang out through the room; the question making him sound like a disapproving husband. Sakura stared at him strangely for a moment before taking the few steps necessary to reach the bed and take a seat next to Itachi.

"Ino wanted to talk to me about something…I'm sorry, Itachi-san," she said politely, with a small smile up in his direction. Slowly he raised his head and looked down at her. He showed no visible sign of emotion as always, but for some reason there was something behind his eyes. He gave her no response, but she really wasn't expecting one.

"Um…Itachi-san, is there something you want to talk about…you seem sort of off tonight?" She asked, trying to gain some insight as to why he was looking at her strangely. Itachi placed a dominating hand onto her shoulder and giving her no time to think pulled her forward into a kiss.

Shock settled over the kunoichis face as his lips crashed onto hers. Her first reaction was to struggle to break the contact, but she soon found that that course of action was virtually impossible. So, ignoring the little voice screaming at her to try harder, she relaxed into the contact. Sakura moved her lips in accordance with the older Uchihas, making their lips move in a dance. This dance was very unlike any other, though. Instead of the choreographed movements that were essential in any normal ballerinas routine, this held many twists and turns that neither dancer initiated. Unfortunately, like every dance recital the magic had to end.

Pulling away with a sharp intake of precious oxygen, Sakura stared up into Itachis eyes trying to recollect the warmth of his lips upon hers. Itachi simply looked away from her questioning, jade orbs.

"Itachi-san…why? What on Earth made you decide to kiss me?" She asked, trying to get another good look into his eyes. He met her stare again, but this time his eyes were a deep scarlet color with three tomoe marks swirling just outside the iris.

"Sakura…thank you," he said in a low voice. Sakuras eyes widened as she took in the words that were so familiar to her yet seemed so foreign when falling from Itachis lips. She continued to search for answers in his scarlet eyes until they began to change into something so much more dangerous to the rosette kunoichi. She attempted to look away from his eyes, but it was too late she was already caught in the Genjutsu, Tsukiyomi. Her minds eye began to reshape into the terrible dream world where only nightmares come true, but the only thing she thought about was the meaning of the simple phrase 'thank you'.

_'Shouldn't thank you just be a way to express your gratitude to someone?'_ She thought to herself as the roof above her disappeared and shaped into a blood red version of the night sky, _'But unfortunately for me…it always means goodbye.'_

The only sound that echoed through the silence of the Akatsuki complex a moment later was the sound of a terrifying scream.

* * *

_Wish_

_You could turn off_

_The questions, turn_

_Off the voices,_

_Turn off all sound._

_Yearn_

_To close out _

_The ugliness, close_

_Out the filthiness,_

_Close out all light._

_Long_

_To cast away_

_Yesterday, cast_

_Away memory,_

_Cast away all jeopardy._

_Pray_

_You could somehow stop_

_The uncertainty, somehow_

_Stop the loathing,_

_Somehow stop the pain._

_Act_

_On your impulse,_

_Swallow the bottle, _

_Cut a little deeper,_

_Put the gun to your chest._

_From Impulse by Ellen Hopkins_

* * *

Tenten jumped down onto the ground following a very quiet Hidan. Night had fallen fast on the trio and though they had covered a large span of land, there was no telling exactly where they were. Kakuzu, being the unspoken leader of the group, had declared that they should make a camp for the night. Already shivering at the prospect of sleeping outdoors, she walked into the middle of their campsite and awaited her orders. 

"Tenten, you can stay here and unroll our sleeping bags and such," Kakuzu stated before Hidan and himself walked away, probably to gather firewood, set traps for enemy ninja and scout the area they were in.

Being left alone, she walked over to their packs and began to set their sleeping bags down on the ground. Somehow, she had a feeling that they didn't use tents in Akatsuki. Probably because they were always in constant danger of being ambushed and there would be no time to take down camp if there was a threat of an enemy approaching. The less left behind, the better.

With a sigh, she finished her relatively easy task and sat down with a huff on her maroon sleeping bag. Then with a start, she realized her plan and she pulled her bag closer to her. Tenten silently fished through the contents of her small pack before pulling out the small metal bottle of sulfuric acid.

"Perfect," she whispered to herself.

"So, how does that idiot plan on erasing their memories?" Hidan asked as he set up another wire trap with kunai attached to it. Kakuzu turned silently to his crude partner.

"Well, he plans on using the necklaces and the rings as his connections to them. Using these connections, Leader-sama plans to slowly erase every memory that they have of the Akatsuki…but beyond that I know nothing," the treasurer of Akatsuki said as the two began to walk back towards the campsite.

Hidan walked slightly behind the money grungy member of the Akatsuki with only one thing on his mind, or rather one person…Tenten.

The rest of the night seemed to drag by too slow for Tenten. Her chance to finally get free arose when she was set to be the watcher for enemy ninjas approaching. Of course, Hidan didn't think he had anything to worry about because of her necklace but Tenten was about to take care of that little flaw. Silently pulling the metal bottle of acid from a pocket in her pants, she conscientiously unscrewed the cap. Using her free hand, she pulled the necklace away from her body and used her other hand to carefully pour a small drop of sulfuric acid onto the metal. A satisfactory sizzle was heard as the acid began to eat through the metal of the chain. Shortly after, she pulled the necklace delicately from around her neck and dropped in onto the ground next to her sleeping bag. Tentatively, she stood and was about to make a clean get away when she felt a hand grasp her ankle.

A small noise escaped her lips as she stared down into the violet pupils of Hidan. She knew that a pleading look had crossed her features, as though begging him to let her go. Surprisingly, he did but only to sit up and grasp her hand. He pulled her face down to him so that they were mere inches apart. In an act completely out of character, he brushed his lips softly against hers.

"Get the hell out of here, Panda," he whispered against her lips before pulling her against him so they were locked in a kiss. He only allowed the action to continue for a short amount of time before he roughly pushed her away. Even as an empty space before her was formed, the kiss lingered on Tentens lips as though it were never ending.

"Go! Run as fast as you fucking can," he whispered louder, implying his urgency. Without any thought as to why he wanted her escape she nodded frantically, and turned around and began to dash through the woods. When Hidan was sure she was completely out of view he turned his head and looked at the piece of metal that was Tentens necklace. Smirking, he picked it up and used a small fire Jutsu to set it ablaze.

"I always keep my promises, Panda," he said in a hushed whisper as the metal began to liquidize and fall to the ground in metallic, silver drops.

As Tenten ran, tears began to trail down her cheeks making her face even colder than it already was. She continued running, her lungs begging her to stop and the tears streaming down her face betraying the broken heart she felt. Finally, her body gave into the emotional weight and broke down. Tenten fell to the forest floor in sobs, looking like a massive wreck in the middle of the woods. She wasn't sure how long she sat there crying but it felt like years to the emotionally unstable kunoichi.

All through the night she cried, but at long last she heard voices approaching. She couldn't make out the words through her sobs but she could hear the voices and they were coming closer. Her body didn't have the strength to get away, so she lay on the forest floor just praying that it was not an Akatsuki member approaching her.

Suddenly, a face appeared in her blurred vision and she made out the form of the Konoha hitae-ite upon their head. Smiling shakily, she reached a hand towards their face and the person grabbed the hand using it as leverage to sling her over their shoulder.

"Kakashi-sensei…I think it's Tenten-chan," the voice beneath her said. She could distinguish worry laced in the undertones of his strictly masculine voice. Apparently she knew these people, which could only be described as a good thing.

"It is Naruto…and judging by her condition we need to get her back to the village…now," Kakashi said before wordlessly turning around and heading towards Konoha.

"Don't worry, Tenten-chan…Tsunde-obaa-san will fix you up," Naruto said reassuringly. She felt his body move beneath her and could only assume that they were headed towards Konoha.

_'Finally…I am able to go home…'_ Tenten thought as her consciousness slowly faded, _'But I feel…as though some major part of me…is missing.'_ With these final thoughts she drifted into sweet obliviousness, her only dream consisting of a man with piercing violet eyes and silky silver hair staring at her under the security of a moonlit sky.

_I found you here, now please just stay for a while _

_I can move on with you around _

_I hand you my mortal life, but will it be forever? _

_I'd do anything for a smile, holding you till our time is done _

_We both know the day will come, but I don't want to leave you _

_From Seize the Day by Avenged Sevenfold_

* * *

**A/N: Well wasn't that an exciting way to end a story! Yes, that was the last chapter…but don't worry…I have to write the epilogue for it still so you have one more coming out and then the sequel!! Celebrate!!**

**I always want to hear your questions, comments, and, of course, criticisms!**


	12. Epilogue

**A/N: Well folks this is officially the last chapter of the story affectionately known as A Test of Insanity. I sincerely hope that everyone had a nice time reading my work because I definitely had fun writing it. Well, the only thing left to do know is cry. Tissues will be available to those that need them.**

**This story is forever dedicated to the following: Kyle Hanson, for being with me through thick and thin even when it seemed I would never return, Ali Webb and Mike Smith, for being my best friends and inspiring me through such simple, mundane things, FreeFallJumper, for continuously bringing a smile to my face with every review, shilhouette68, for drawing me the only fan art I am likely to conjure up and being with me from the beginning, narutardedbandgeek, for believing in my work and knowing that we all make mistakes, and Jaded Delirium, for making your reviews vibrant and inspiring.**

**Inspiration Music: Through Glass by Stone Sour, I Miss You by Blink 182, Evil Angel by Breaking Benjamin, Until the End by Breaking Benjamin, and Forsaken by Disturbed and Korn.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. –Insert witty banter-**

* * *

_Epilogue _

_How do you feel? That is the question..._

_But I forget you don't expect an easy answer _

_When something like a soul becomes initialized and folded up like _

_Paper dolls and little notes, you can't expect a bit of hope_

_And while you're outside looking in, describing what you see _

_Remember what you're staring at is me_

_From Through Glass by Stone Sour_

September 19, 2007

Dear diary or whatever this can be counted as,

My name is Tenten. In most normal circumstances a person would not feel the need to write down such an unimportant fact, but when your mind is threatened to forget everything in the blink of an eye…a small, simple fact that a person feels they will never forget must be written down in order to preserve and retain that information. Also, this situation could be called anything but normal.

In case I don't remember this later, I was given this journal of sorts by the head of Konoha Interrogation, Morino Ibiki. When I was taken in for questioning approximately a week after I had awoken in Konoha hospital, I found that every question that Ibiki-san asked of me I was unable to answer. The memories he was asking me to conjure up were at best fuzzy and at worst almost nonexistent. Of course, not wanting to incur the wrath of probably the most insane Jounin the village had, I told him exactly as it was.

In the middle of said interrogation, however, Ibiki-san inquired of me what I remembered of the people that had kept me and my companions' hostage. Without thinking, I told him of the man that had haunted my nightmares continuously always haunting the very edges of my torment. Somehow, I could recall this man in explicit detail down to the very scent that surrounded him. Now, I can only remember the two most prominent features about this man, his hair and his eyes. I can remember his striking silver hair as the moon caught it at an angle and of course, his piercing violet gaze as it peered into my soul and most private thoughts.

Obviously stunned with my sudden realization, Ibiki-san handed me this journal and told me that as memories occurred to me I was to write them in the most detail I can conjure onto these very pages. Now, at the previous moment I must let it be known that while I do what I have been ordered I am also going to make this into my personal diary in case one day it appears as though all hope is lost and I forget even the smallest details about my life.

These first pages are going to be filled with the memories I have gathered of the time since I woke up in Konoha hospital to this very moment.

As I awoke, I felt a stinging pain run down my spine as though I had been sleeping in a rather awkward position. For some unknown reason, I expected to find comfort in the form lying next to me…only to find that the form was a nightstand. Groaning, I took in a large whiff of an overpowering antiseptic scent, warning my brain that I was in the hospital. I opened my eyes to find myself in a very familiar scene and surrounded by familiar faces…or face.

I stared into the pale eyes of Hyuuga Neji for longer than is custom before blinking away the strange sense that I had somehow betrayed the man standing beside my bed. As if he finally noticed I was awake, Neji let some sign of relief flash across his features (I knew this was good, seeing as he usually doesn't even acknowledge me).

"Tenten, you finally woke up…Naruto brought you in here ages ago," he said with no real malice. The prodigy took a seat next to my bedside and leaned forward as if expecting me to lecture him about transcendentalism. Suddenly feeling strangely awkward, I looked away and began to fidget under his intense gaze.

"Well…I don't know," I said rather intelligently, my voice coming out extremely raspy due to under usage. Clearing my throat several times to rid it of the hoarseness, I looked over at him finally. After his first statement, it appeared as though the pleasantries were over because he immediately stiffened.

"Tenten, I was sent here to tell you something," Neji said crisply and to the point. Nodding, I almost signified for him to continue before I thought of something I wanted to ask him.

"Wait, before you say anything, how long have I been out for?" I rasped out.

"It has been approximately two and a half days," Neji replied in a typical Neji fashion. Satisfied with the answer, I motioned for him to continue.

"As I was saying, I was sent to inform you about Yamanaka Ino," he continued, staying completely stoic throughout the message. Suddenly, worry flooded my system as I remembered a scene I had with Ino and Sakura about escaping some sort of horrible place. Sitting straighter in the bed, I bit my lip and allowed him to proceed.

"She was found early this morning on the border of the Fire Country, completely unconscious," he said.

"Well, is she alright?" I asked, worry lacing throughout my words. Neji seemed to contemplate what to say next for a moment because he finally broke his gaze on me.

"Well, she awoke soon after being placed in the hospital shouting out at whoever tried to come near here, including Nara Shikamaru. Later, it was proven that she remembered nothing…including herself," he said quietly as though ready to gauge my reaction. I was about ready to shout out in defense of my friend, when something that never even occurred to me crossed my mind. I didn't remember how I had even gotten into the hospital. Other than remembering Kakashi-san and Naruto finding me in the woods…I couldn't even remember how I had gotten into the woods.

I suppose after that I must have passed out, because the rest of the afternoon was a blur to me.

The next day, I was released to return home under the close surveillance of my parents, however. The few days following that passed uneventfully with me just generally lying on my bed trying to call forward the memories that lurked just outside of my reach.

End Passage

* * *

A figure moved silently through the darkness of the night, his presence blending in perfectly with the shadows. The expertise with which the figure moved marked them surely as a ninja, but anyone lucky enough to catch a small glimpse of this trained assassin would likely be very unlikely the next moment.

The man was insanely plain, with the only exception being his gravity defying hair. His silver locks jetted up in an angular pattern, only adding to his outwardly lazy countenance. Although the only outstanding feature on the man was indeed his hair, anyone that had a lick of a connection with the shinobi world knew that this man was the one and only copycat ninja, Hatake Kakashi.

It seemed the legendary shinobi was on a search mission as his observant eyes traced the ground looking for any sign of life, or lack thereof. Groaning with aggravation, he was about to call off his search party when one of his tracker dogs barked out that it had found something.

"I've found something. I'm going to check it out, back me up," he said in a low voice so that the only person that would hear him would be the person listening intently on the other line. Static filled his ear for a moment before his partners voice rang through the connection.

"I'll be there Kakashi-sensei," said the voice on the other line. Sure enough, Kakashi felt the insanely large chakra signature of his student close in on him as he leaped through the foliage towards the sound of his hound barking.

What he saw when he reached the small clearing chilled him completely to the core. He stood stock still as he took in the trembling form of the person lying before him.

"S-Sakura-chan," he heard Naruto say as he touched down next to Kakashi. The cause for their surprise and horror was the small, trembling rosette kunoichi lying in front of their eyes.

Her jade orbs were wide open, though unseeing, as if they were peering into eternal damnation. Her body quaked as spine-jerking spasms wracked her every so often and her clothes were torn in several places, exposing her bare flesh to the crisp autumn air. A small glass orb hung around her slender neck and her hands were grasping at it as if trying to rip it off but so far they were only succeeding in tearing into her own pale skin.

Kakashi racked his brain for any reason as to why his only female student would be in such a terrible mess. Nothing added up, Tenten seemed to be perfectly fine on the condition that she seemed to have some bouts of memory lapses and Ino couldn't remember anything at all causing the poor girl to drive herself insane. Now here was Sakura, completely contorted into an agony that only she could see and only she could rescue herself from.

Sighing, Kakashi signaled for Naruto to scoop up the kunoichi from her spot so the trio could travel back to Konoha.

"Tsunade-sama, mission accomplished. We'll be arriving shortly back in Konoha," Kakashi spoke morosely into the communicator. Static filled the line before a strong female voice reached his ear.

"Very good…and how is she?" Tsunade asked through their link as Kakashi took through the woods after Naruto. Kakashi sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Well Tsunade-sama…you definitely have your work cut out for you," the one-eyed Jounin said darkly making sure the implications of his words were not lost. There was a rather long pause over the line, signaling that Tsunade did, indeed, understand what he meant.

"Understood." The reply came with no added gusto just a simple forced answer of compliance. The line went dead immediately after, signaling that Tsunade wanted to be alone for now.

Kakashi couldn't agree with her more.

* * *

October 19, 2007

Dear diary or whatever this could be counted as,

Today I was informed that Sakura was found; yet she was not without injury. I was told that her physical and mental conditions were lacking and she was lucky to even be alive. I felt bad for the poor fool that was ordered to tell me of my friends' condition.

I happened to be training when he arrived at the field where I had made my residence. I twirled a single kunai effortlessly around my finger before giving it a light toss in the boy's direction, to keep him on his toes. I heard a yelp and a thump on the ground signifying that he had dodged with surprise.

"Pardon me for bothering you, Tenten-san, but I have been sent here to inform you that Sakura-san was found last night by the border patrol in a rather poor condition," he said as he shook the dirt off of his shinobi clothing. I turned my full attention to him, nodding for him to continue. Immediately his demeanor changed when he noticed my outward appearance. Of course, the reaction was not unexpected. Many people have commented to me that all the black I've been wearing lately has made my mood drearier but I know otherwise. If your mind was constantly captivated with the thought that there might one day be no more thought…how would you dress. The answer is simple thus I need say no more on the topic.

As I was saying, the boy (whom I am sure I've seen before but I couldn't place a name with his face) stiffened when he noticed the completely blank look on my face. I probably should have given the information more reaction, but I suppose I have been shaped into something that I never thought I would be.

"U-Uh, well she is in the hospital now…but Tsunade-sama is not allowing any visitors at this time," he said before quickly speeding away from me as though hell was licking at his heels. I stood there for a moment rubbing the bridge of my nose as I thought about the information I was presented. The situation was no different than when Ino had been found: absolutely no visitors and absolutely no word on her condition until further notice. It had been a long while that Ino had been prevented to see people including her family. I had no doubt in my mind that Sakura would be the same.

Which reminded me that I needed to go see Ino. So, wiping the dirt from my pants and gloves, I headed to Konoha hospital, the number one sight of all things gruesome. While on my little journey I began to ponder the reason why I was spared the curse of insanity. The question was not a rarity; in fact if all my thoughts were recorded on paper about ninety-nine out of those one hundred pages would be filled with this very question.

It simply made no sense to me. Why would I be spared instead of Sakura and Ino? I was almost a waste of oxygen in comparison to Sakura. She is Tsunade-sama's very apprentice. And compared to Ino…well Ino and I could be considered on at least the same page. I was told that the three of us had left on a mission but had never returned. During the time period that we were absent, Ino had apparently returned once dressed in Akatsuki garments and working with another blonde. From what I could gather, Ino had said some very derogatory things to her old friends before escaping with a book straight from the Hokage's personal library.

The thought, alone, that the Akatsuki captured us frightens me. I had to let the thoughts stray away then, because I had arrived at Ino's room on the fifth floor, the only floor designated for the mentally fatigued or challenged. I slowly pushed open her door so I didn't wake her if she were asleep.

The strange thing was that instead of seeing Ino lying blankly on the white bed, I saw a man that could possibly be my friend's twin. Blushing at my mistake, I began to close the door muttering apologies to the man. That is, until, Ino's voice shattered my vision.

"Tenten, that's your name right?" Ino asked, looking into my eyes curiously. I shook my head of the man, giving her my full attention.

"Yes, that's me Ino," I spoke softly and slowly for her, afraid if I was too loud it might make her temporary memory erase and throw her into an insane tantrum. A relieved smile swam across her features when I had proved her assumption correct.

"Thank Kami, I finally remembered at least one person," she said with a smile. The words triggered something in my mind and before I could stop myself I blurted out my revelation.

"You shouldn't be thanking Kami, you should be thanking Jashin-sama," I said as though I even understood the words that flowed effortlessly from my mouth. Ino's smile immediately dissolved into confusion at my statement and I could almost literally see behind her eyes into her blank mind.

"What was that?" She asked, voicing her confusion. I just sighed and smiled lightly.

"Oh, nothing. It's just an inside joke between an extremely close friend, and me," I blurted out, not knowing if my words were true or completely false. Nodding her head, Ino gave me a rather strange look of disbelief.

"I know you're talking about Hidan," she said, her eyes downcast towards the blankets. My eyes filled with surprise. Hidan! That was his name…the man from my dreams with the striking silver hair and the piercing violet eyes. If it seems I repeat the name more often than necessary, it is solely for the purpose of memory.

"Ino…are you saying you remember Hidan?" I asked my countenance filled with unmasked hope. Maybe I wouldn't have to lose my friends!

"Tenten…I don't understand, who is this Hidan?" Ino asked with curiosity filling her eyes. The statement broke all hope that I had harbored from her earlier statement and threw me into a rather foul mood.

"It's nothing alright! I just thought that maybe finally I wouldn't have to settle for a half-assed version of my best friend!" I yelled rather forcefully at the bed-ridden girl. Not really wanting to see her reaction, I turned on my heel and marched away from her room bent of finding out more about this Hidan man.

Looking back on it now, I realize that old me would never had been so harsh on a girl that could remember even less than I did. But the old me is woven so deep into the new me that she is most likely permanently lost. I know she is not gone because there are still small inklings that she exists like in the fact that I still harbor a deep love for weaponry. Still, Ino did not deserve such harsh comments for such a simple question. Knowing my current state, I probably imagined she had brought up Hidan. My mind was probably constantly searching for ways to portray to me the memories that have been buried deeply into my mind.

During my search for information, I came across the Konoha public library. As I read through a rather boring script on the Uchiha Itachi (I thought maybe there would be something about Hidan for they are in an organization together), I began to subconsciously twirl the ring around my left index finger. Suddenly it came to me that I didn't remember putting on any jewelry lately. Looking down at the simple piece of metal I found kanji inscribed on it. It read _santai_ or "three levels", and something about it triggered a memory in my mind.

"_While you are staying with us in the Akatsuki Headquarters, you are to wear our full uniform, the cloak, the polish, the hat when you are out on missions, and the ring. That ring is an exact replica of Hidan's and fitted to fit around your finger. The ring allows me to connect with you telepathically while you are on missions and it also lets me know where you are at all times, like the necklace allows Hidan to know where you are. Now, understand that at the time being you are Hidan and Kakuzu's new teammate, so you will listen to whatever they have to say with no complaints unless I tell you directly to go against what they are saying. Do you understand Tenten-san?" An entity explained to me in a way that sounded somewhat practiced._

"_I understand implicitly, Leader-sama," I said to the entity, vaguely noticing Hidan stiffen when I referred to the entity as –sama. _

Blinking out of the reminiscence, I stood from my seat in the library and bolted towards the door. I ran straight to my home, my room, the only place that felt familiar at the moment.

I burst through my simple, wooden door and slid into my seat to begin writing in this very diary when another thought occurred to me. The man, Leader-sama, said that it was his way of knowing where I was at all times. The thought made me rip the dreadful thing off my finger and hurl it unceremoniously onto my desk.

In that moment, it felt as though some sort of haze had been lifted. Instead of images traced in fragmented lines, I saw everything with vivacious color and detailed design. Hidan was no longer an enigma; he was my very best friend and, judging by my raging emotions, much more. To think that such a simple ring could have caused such an upheaval was unimaginable but apparently for me such a thing was the key.

End Passage

"The mission was successful in all areas, except one major flaw in its carry out," said a man, glaring pointedly at one of his three followers, with hair that spiked up in all directions; he also appeared to have several piercing. The three men surrounding him were all in different states of mood. One with flawless blonde hair seemed to be looking to the floor as though contemplating something. The man standing directly beside him had emotionless red eyes as he stared impassively at the man in the center of their congregation. And the last member of their group stood a bit off to the side as though he felt he didn't belong and none of the other members argued this point.

"Hidan, you have once again disobeyed a direct order given to you by me," said the spiky haired man. Hidan glanced at his leader from his place outside the group, holding no outward emotion towards the subject.

"Yeah, it appears I have Pein," Hidan said with outward disdain towards the man. Pein grumbled at the disrespect but continued with his reprimanding.

"Deidara, Itachi you two may leave. Hidan, please stay and enjoy a personal conference with me," he said motioning for the blonde man and the red-eyed man to leave. They did as commanded, leaving Hidan and the leader alone in their stead.

"Beat me all you want you bastard, it's not like I can die anyways," Hidan said dismissively. Pein smirked sadistically as he took a step towards his only rebellious charge.

"Don't worry Hidan, I plan to take this as far as I can, to the point where you wished you were dead," he said as he placed a hand onto Hidans shoulder. Hidan glared at the more experienced shinobi, killing intent rolling off of him in waves.

_'Seriously, Panda, I hope wherever the hell you are you at least remember me a little bit…because if you don't, I will pay you back all the pain I'm taking for you,'_ Hidan thought as Pein's hand tightened around his shoulder. Hidan began to chuckle beside himself.

From the outside, Deidara felt a strong chill run down his spine as maniacal laughter sounded throughout the Akatsuki compound.

"The laugh a man makes when they have fallen victim to only the highest forms of insanity," the artist whispered to himself as he opened the metal door to the main building, Itachi hot on his heels.

_I'm over it!_

_You see me I'm falling in a vast abyss._

_Clouded by memories of the past,_

_At last I see..._

_I hear it fading,_

_I can't speak it,_

_Or else you will dig my grave._

_We feel them finding,_

_Always winding,_

_Take my hand now be alive!_

_From Forsaken by Disturbed and Korn_

**Fin**

* * *

**A/N: Wow, it's really over. It's kind of hard to believe all of my hard work led up to this point. Hopefully all of you will continue to follow me beyond this checkpoint in my writing. The sequel will be filled with even more surprises and goodies. As for Ino and Sakura, well you're going to have to keep following me to find out what happens to them.**

**Thank you to every one of my readers and reviewers for staying with this story to the very end.**


	13. Important Note

**A/N: Hey all, this is just a notice to everybody that doesn't have me on their author alerts list, that I have my sequel up! For all of you that don't know, it is set three years in the future and it begins at a ceremony XD. I hope that all of you like this story as much as you liked A Test of Insanity. Oh, and just to let everyone know, I write these stories based on my imagination and creativity so if it seems a little lacking lately it's because I've been undergoing a family tragedy and also trying to overcome a sickness. I ask all of you to please bare with me. Thank you all for everything.**

**Star-chan**


	14. Another Note

Hey y'all, just wanted to let you know that this story is under revision. If you check the first chapter, you'll see a drastic difference. I'm working on the next chapters as we speak-well, not really because that would be impossible. But they are being worked on. This story is like my child, and I wanted to do better with it. Hence, we have a new and slightly and improved version. Read the author's note in the first chapter for more information.

Thanks!

Also, I love you all.


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